V 


MOD 


GIFT   OF 
George   E.Allen 


19690  8A 


UNCLE    SAM'S    BIBLE 

OR 

Bible  Teachings  About  Politics 


UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE 


OR 


Bible  Teachings  About  Politics 


BY 


JAMES  B.  CONVERSE 

i  \ 

Author  of  "The  Bible  and  Land,"  and  formerly  Editor  of 
The  Christian  Patriot  and  The  Christian  Observer. 


"Righteousness     Exaltetra     a     Nation." 


CHICAGO 

THE    SCHULTE    PUBLISHING    COMPANY 
823-325  DEARBORN  STREET 


\0 


MID 


Copyright,  1898,  by  JAMKS  B.  CONVKKSK. 

AUKiyfitfi  Reserved. 
Copyright,  1899.  by  FRANCIS  J.  SCHITLTK. 


GIFT 


DEDICATED 

TO 

UNCLE  SAM'S  SONS  AND  DAUGHTERS 

NORTH    AND    SOUTH,    EAST   AND    WEST. 


"  IT  SHALL  COME  TO  PASS,  if  thou  shalt 
I  hearken  diligently  unto  the  voice  of  the  LORD  thy 
God,  to  observe  and  to  do  all  his  commandments,  .  .  . 
that  the  LORD  thy  God  will  set  thee  on  high  above  all 
nations  of  the  earth : 

"And  all  these  blessings  shall  come  on  thee  and  over- 
take thee,  if  thou  shalt  hearken  unto  the  voice  of  the 
LORD  thy  God. 

"Blessed  shalt  thou  be  in  the  city,  and  blessed  shalt 
thou  be  in  the  field. 

"Blessed  shall  be  the  fruit  of  thy  body,  and  the  fruit 
of  thy  ground,  and  the  fruit  of  thy  cattle,  the  increase 
of  thy  kine,  and  the  flocks  of  thy  sheep. 

* '  Blessed  shall  be  thy  basket  and  thy  store. 

"Blessed  shalt  .thou  be  when  thou  comest  in  and 
blessed  shalt  thou  be  when  thou  goest  out. 

"  The  LORD  shall  cause  thine  enemies  that  rise  up 
against  thee  to  be  smitten  before  thy  face.  .  .  . 

"  The  LORD  shall  command  the  blessing  upon  thee  in 
thy  storehouses,  and  in  all  that  thou  settest  thine  hand 
unto,  .  .  .  if  thou  shalt  keep  the  commandments  of 
the  LORD  thy  God,  and  walk  in  his  ways." 

— DEUTERONOMY  28:1-9. 

41C523 


PEEFACE. 

"TINGLE  SAM"  needs  a  Bible.  May  this  book  per- 
suade him  to  look  for  one.  For  there  is  a  Bible  espe- 
cially designed  and  written  for  him.  Blessed  will  he  be 
if  he  will  take  it  from  the  pulpit  cushion  or  the  parlor 
table  and  carry  it  into  his  senate  chambers,  his 
executive  mansions  and  his  court-rooms,  and  study  and 
obey  it. 

This  book  looks  at  political  questions  from  the  stand- 
point of  righteousness  or  conformity  to  God's  will.  It 
has  few  predecessors ;  may  it  have  many  successors !  Its 
publishers  hope  "that  it  will  arouse  more  interest  and 
exert  greater  influence  than  any  book  ever  did,  except- 
ing the  Bible."  The  realization  of  their  hope  will  be 
the  greatest  blessing  to  our  posterity  to  the  latest 
generation.  For  the  scrip turalness  of  its  twenty-eight 
principles  will  be  seriously  questioned  only  by  those  who, 
like  the  Rev.  Luther  Calvin  Wesley,  D.D.,  prefer  their 
earthly  comforts  to  God's  word.  The  danger  is  that 
these  truths  will  be  overlooked  in  the  future  as  they 
have  been  in  the  past.  We  therefore  ask  for  the  pray- 
ers and  co-operation  of  the  pious  reader  that  the  benev- 
olent and  patriotic  wishes  of  the  publishers  may  be 
accomplished. 

To  condense  into  one  volume  the  discussion  of  so 
many  reforms  commanded  by  God  required  brevity. 
Perhaps  this  has  led  sometimes  to  obscurity.  The  ex- 
pediency and  wisdom  of  the  reforms  have  been  but 

vii 


viii  PREFACE. 

slightly  touched,  and  the  details  for  executing  them  have 
been  omitted.  Until  the  principles  are  adopted  the  dis- 
cussion of  the  details  is  useless.  The  debates  about 
expediency,  as  shown  in  Chapter  V.,  are  endless  and 
fruitless.  There  is  a  better  way.  Eight  is  always  right 
and  always  best.  With  all  this  condensation  the  whole 
ground  of  reform  is  not  traversed. 

The  narrative  form  has  been  adopted.  But  the 
reader  who  wishes  to  study  the  subject  systematically 
will  be  aided  by  the  table  of  contents  and  four  indexes. 

To  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  has  shown  the  author  much 
in  His  word  that,  although  plain,  has  been  hidden  from 
our  generation,  be  all  glory.  That  He  will  show  it  to 
the  readers  and  fix  it  in  their  hearts  is  his  prayer. 

Morristown,  Tenn. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I. 
CHRISTIAN  CIVILIZATION. 

Rev.  Jacob  Jones  at  Home — Description  of  Characters — 
Need  of  Reform — "Hard  Times" — Concentration  of 
Wealth — Growth  of  Class  Distinctions — Decline  of 
Church  Attendance — Useless  to  Expect  Reform  from 
the  Political  Parties — Or  from  the  Conversion  of  the 
People — Motives  for  Reform:  Our  Personal  Interests; 
Love  for  Christ — Reform  is  the  Conversion  of  Our  Civili- 
zation from  Idolatry  to  Christianity 17 

CHAPTER  II. 
THE  HIGHER  LAW 

All  Human  Laws  Should  Conform  to  God's  Law — The 
Mischief  Done  by  Making  an  Opinion  of  Man  a  Part  of 
the  Law  of  God — The  Existence  of  a  Higher  Law 
Argued  from  God's  Knowledge — From  His  Benevolence 
— Acknowledged  by  Blackstone  and  the  Common  Law 
— Applies  to  Every  Act  of  Man — Moral  and  Positive  Pre- 
cepts— Every  Human  Law  should  be  Either  an  Inter- 
pretation or  Application  of  the  Higher  Law 22 

CHAPTER  III. 
THE  BEST  LAW  BOOK. 

The  Bible  the  Best  Means  of  Learning  the  Higher  Law — 
Acknowledged  by  Blackstone — Argued  from  God's 
Benevolence— From  the  Character  of  the  Bible — Bene- 
fits of  Understanding  its  Character— Other  Means  of 
Learning  the  Higher  Law — Women  not  Excused  from 

Studying  It 28 

ix 


x  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IV. 
CHRIST  AND  REFORM. 

No  Life  is  Wasted  that  is  Spent  in  Teaching  the  Higher 
Law — Christ  its  Great  Teacher — Not  Inconsistent  with 
His  Atoning  Work — Nor  with  the  New  Testament 
Descriptions  of  His  Work — Argued  from  the  Socinian 
and  Unitarian  Conceptions  of  Christ — From  His  State- 
ment that  Justice,  the  Duty  of  Civil  Government,  is  a 
Weightier  Matter  than  Tithing,  the  Support  of  the 
Church — From  His  Preaching — From  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount — His  Followers  Must  Sympathize  with  Him 
— Four  Objections  Answered 34 

CHAPTER  V. 

EXPEDIENCY  VS.  RIGHTEOUSNESS. 
Righteousness  Exalteth  a  Nation— Is  Generally  Dis- 
believed— Expediency  Cannot  Teach  the  Higher  Law — 
Argued  from  Experience — From  the  Nature  of  the 
Argument — From  the  Personal  Interests  of  the  Students 
— National  Honor  not  the  Same  as  National  Righteous- 
ness— The  Church  a  Worshiper  of  Expediency — Women 
as  Students  of  the  Higher  Law— All  Can  Learn  It— The 
RooJK>f  Political  Billingsgate 42 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  FIRST  DUTY  OF  CHRISTIANS 
Is  to  Learn  the  Higher  Law — The  Best  Proof  of  the  Inspir- 
ation of  the  Bible  is  its  Social  Effects — Teachings  of  the 
Bible  about  Politics  Very  Plain— Its  Political  Study 
will  Produce  Unity — It  must  be  Studied  Reverently — 
And  Thoroughly — The  Duty  Argued  from  I  Timothy — 
The  Neglect  of  it  Produces  Irreligion 47 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  JUDGMENT  OF  THE  CHURCH. 
The  Bible  in  the  Common  Schools — The  Neglect  to  Study 
it    Politically  is  Sinful — Indignation    Caused    by  this 
Statement— The  Great  Sin  of  Our'  Ministry  and  Church 


CONTENTS.  xi 

—Palliations — The  Principle  Argued  from  the  Doctrine 
of  Faith— From  Revelation  22:18-19— From  the  Parable 
of  the  Vineyard— Ministers  Should  Study  their  Bibles 
before  Trying  to  Preach  Politics 53 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  DUTY  OF  CIVIL  GOVERNMENT 
Is  Only  to  Do  Justice — Objections  to  this  Assertion :  First, 
That  it  Should  Promote  the  General  Welfare— Reply, 
Doing  Justice  is  the  Best  Way  to  Do  This — Secondly, 
That  Government  Should  Secure  Life,  the  Means  of 
Subsistence,  to  All  its  Citizens — Reply,  It  Cannot  Do  it 
Without  Destroying  Personal  Independence — Thirdly, 
That  to  Secure  Liberty  to  the  People  the  Government 
Must  Support  Them— Reply,  A  Definition  of  Liberty...  61 

CHAPTER  IX. 
SOCIALISM- 

Edward  Bellamy's  Description  of  It — Mr.  Jones'  Definition 
— Is  Impracticable  Now — Reason  for  Being  an  Esthetic 
Socialist — Arguments  for  Socialism  Answered — First, 
from  the  Trusts — Secondly,  from  the  Public  Ownership 
of  Natural  Monopolies — Thirdly,  from  the  Evils  of  Com- 
petition— And,  Fourthly,  from  Co-operation 69 

CHAPTER  X. 

''HEBREW,  JUSTICE,  JUSTICE!" 

Bible  Arguments  Against  Socialism — First,  the  Silence  of 
Scripture— Secondly,  the  Bible  Name  for  Civil  Rulers — 
Thirdly,  Proof  Texts— Fourthly,  the  Character  of 
Christ's  Reign  on  Earth — Argued  also  from  Conscience 
— From  the  Common  Law — From  Reason — From  the 
Limitations  of  Human  Government 76 

CHAPTER  XI. 

'   "LIKE  PEOPLE,  LIKE  PRIEST." 
Civil    Government    Derives   its  Authority  from    God — 
Truth     Always     Useful  —  Social      Contract     Theory 


xii  CONTENTS. 

Unfounded — Why  Our  Church  Government  is  Pure — 
And  Our  Civil  Government  is  Corrupt — How  to  Purify 
It — The  Truth  Proved  by  the  Nature  of  Government ; 
by  the  Declaration  of  Independence ;  by  Most  Written 
Constitutions;  by  Coins,  and  by  Scripture 83 

CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  PEOPLE  ARE  THE  JUDGES. 
The  People  are  the  God- Appointed  Judges  to  Decide 
between  Right  and  Wrong  in  Public  Affairs — Argued 
from  the  History  of  Moses — And  of  Samuel — And  from 
the  Debates  and  War  about  Slavery — And  from  the 
Need  of  a  Strong  Government — And  from  the  Posses- 
sion of  Consciences  by  All — Corollaries,  Referendum, 
etc. — The  Wickedness  of  Lying  to  the  People,  and  of 
the  Intimidation  and  Bribery  of  Voters 92 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  IDEAL  WOMAN. 

Woman  Suffrage  Argued  from  the  History  of  Samuel — 
Are  Women  People? — Is  there  any  Better  Way  of  Hear- 
ing them  in  Political  Matters  than  through  the  Ballot? 
— Shall  we  Disobey  God? — Have  Women  any  Sense? — 
Their  Clearer  Moral  Judgment  Fits  them  to  be  Judges 
—The  Ideal  Woman 101 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

TAXING  HONESTY— NATIONAL  DEBTS. 

A  Solemn  Oath — How  the  Tax  Assessor  Regarded  It — 
What  Juries  and  Courts  Think  of  It — Taxing  Honesty — 
Encouraging  Profanity — All  Should  Pay  Taxes — Proved 
by  Christ's  Example  and  Command,  Paul's  Command 
and  the  Practice  of  the  Church — And  Citizens  Should 
Pay  Party  Expenses — National  Debts  Forbidden  by  God 
— Would  Help  to  Preserve  Peace — Repudiation  Wrong. . .  108 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

CHAPTER  XV. 
MORE  ABOUT  TAXES. 

Taxes  Should  Be  Light— Bible  Proof— A  Nation's  Glory 
is  the  Well-being  of  its  People — Indirect  Taxes  are 
Unjust — And  Loathsome  to  Christ — Because  they  are 
Collected  from  the  Wants  and  not  from  the  Wealth  of 
the  People — Foster  Political  Corruption — Are  a  Heavy 
Burden — The  Impossibility  of  Taxing  Personal  Property 
Justly— The  Just  Taxes 116 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
IMPORT  DUTIES. 

Free  Trade  is  Commanded  by  God — Through  the  Unity  of 
Mankind— Through  Nature— Through  God's  Will  that 
All  Nations  Should  Live  in  Peace — Import  Duties  are 
Unjust — And  are  Necessarily  Mingled  with  Political 
Corruption — We  Must  Choose  between  Christ  and  Party.  125 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
ABOUT  MONEY. 

Every  Civilized  Country  Must  Create  its  Own  Money — 
Value  and  Utility  Different— Money  a  Tool  to  Ex- 
change Property — Essential  to  Civilization — When  is 
Money  Honest? — Every  Country  Should  Provide  Honest 
Money  for  its  Own  People — By  Keeping  General  Prices 
Stable — The  Wickedness  of  Dishonest  Money — Bible 
Texts— Money  Should  not  be  Redeemable  in  Gold 132 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 

Are  Political  Party  Questions  Outside  of  God's  Dominion? 
— The  Demonetization  of  Silver  is  Sinful — Because  it  is 
Unjust — Because  it  is  not  Listening  to  the  Voice  of  the 
People— God  Commands  the  Free  Coinage  of  Silver 
through  Nature — And  through  History — The  Blindness 
of  the  People  about  this  Sin— God  or  the  Party ;  Which? 
— Repentance  the  Only  Salvation — Righteousness  the 
Best  Policy 142 


xiv  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
USURY,  OR  INTEREST. 

The  Same  in  Morals  and  Economics — Is  Wicked — Con- 
demned by  Every  Definition  of  Money — Is  Extortion — Is 
the  Greatest  Robbery — Will  Destroy  Our  Civilization — 
Excuses  All  Other  Oppression — Discourages  Industry — 
The  Hypocrites  are  the  Church's  Worst  Foes 151 

CHAPTER  XX. 
THE  BIBLE  ON  USURY. 

Condemned  by  Exodus  22 :25— By  Leviticus  25 :35-38— By 
Deuteronomy  23:19-20— Not  Justified  by  Matthew  25:27 
and  Luke  19 :23— Condemned  by  Psalm  15:3— By  Eze- 
kiel  18:8,  13,  17,  and  Chapter  22:12— By  Nehemiah  5:1-13 
— The  Distinction  Between  Business  and  Benevolent 
Loans  is  Fanciful — Government  Should  Discourage 
Usury — By  Refusing  to  Enforce  Contracts  to  Pay  Inter- 
est— By  Excluding  Newspapers  Containing  Usurious 
Advertisements  from  the  Mails — By  Providing  Honest 
Money — Postal  Savings  Banks 159 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
GOD'S  LAND  GRANTS. 

Does  the  Pastor's  Hypocrisy  Justify  that  of  the  Layman? 
—The  Old  Testament  Treats  of  Land  Tenures— God  the 
Paramount  Owner  of  All  Land — He  Gives  it  to  Indi- 
viduals— His  Grants  of  Land  are  Conditional — The  Con- 
dition is  that  it  shall  be  so  Used  as  to  Best  Promote 
Man's  Welfare — That  Means:  Small  Estates — Civil  Gov- 
ernment Must  Assist — Of  the  Plans  Proposed  the  Single 
Tax  is  the  Best— It  Executes  Itself— Is  a  Just  Tax- 
Hinders  no  Industry — Will  Help  the  "Land-Poor" — The 
Power  of  Religious  Sincerity 169 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
LABOR'S  BOOK. 

The  Cure  of  Skepticism — Laborers  are  God's  Children — All 
Have  a  Right  to  Work— None  Should  Live  Without 


CONTENTS.  xv 

Work — Government  Should  Not  Diminish  the  Wages  of 
Labor — Women  Should  Do  Woman's  Work,  and  Men 
Man's  Work— Manual  Work  is  Christ-like— The  Fourth 
Commandment  is  a  Labor  Law — Seven  Proofs  of  this 
Assertion — False  Notions  about  the  Sabbath 181 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
NATURAL  AND  ARTIFICIAL  MONOPOLIES. 

The  Difference  between  Them — The  Private  Ownership 
of  Some  Natural  Monopolies  Would  Shock  All — The 
Private  Ownership  of  Any  is  Politically  Corrupting — 
Monopolies  from  their  very  Nature  Should  Belong  to  the 
State — The  Eighth  Commandment  Forbids  the  Private 
Ownership  of  Any  Natural  Monopoly — Because  it  is 
Impossible  to  Ascertain  what  is  a  Just  Price  for  its 
Service — Illustrated  by  the  Indianapolis  Street  Cars — 
But  when  Publicly  Owned  their  Charges  are  Substan- 
tially Just 192 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
.       THE  RAILROADS. 

The  Principle  stated  in  the  Last  Chapter  Illustrated  by 
the  Railroads — The  Railroad  Fares  and  Freight  Charges 
are  Arbitrary — They  are  Unjust  to  their  Hands — Treat 
Shippers  Dishonestly — Create  the  Trusts — Discriminate 
between  Localities — Crowd  the  People  into  the  Cities — 
Corrupt  their  Managers—  Rob  the  Government — Cor- 
rupt Politics — Because  their  Private  Ownership  is  a  Vio- 
lation of  the  Law,  "Thou  Shalt  not  Steal"— Public 
Ownership  would  Cure  these  Evils — Government  Pur- 
chase Easy 199 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
THE  TRUSTS. 

Not  Love,  but  Justice,  is  the  Remedy  for  the  Evils  of  Our 
Civilization — The  Existence  of  Trusts  is  a  Violation  of 


xvi  CONTENTS. 

the  Law  "Thou  Shalt  not  Steal"—  Trusts  the  Fruits  of 
Wicked  Laws,  while  Natural  Monopolies  are  the  Result 
of  Invention  and  Progress  —  Their  Charges  are  Arbitrary 
—Department  Stores—  To  Kill  the  Trusts,  Repeal  the 
Wicked  Laws—  The  Unjust  Taxes—  The  Dishonest 
Ownership  of  Natural  Monopolies  —  And  Provide  Honest 
Money  —  Are  we  for  Christ  or  against  Him?  .................  205 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 
THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

Its  License  is  Forbidden  by  Every  Sound  Principle  of 
Sociology  —  By  the  Higher  Law  —  By  All  the  Principles 
Established  in  this  Book  that  are  Applicable  to  It  .......  212 


INDEXES. 

I.    A   LIST   OF   THE   PRINCIPLES  AFFIRMED  IN   THIS 

VOLUME  ...................................................  ......  221 

II.    ANALYTICAL  INDEX  ...............................................  223 

III.  TOPICAL  INDEX  ....................................................  225 

IV.  TEXTUAL  INDEX...  ..  229 


Uncle  Sam's  Bible. 


CHAPTER  I. 

CHRISTIAN    CIVILIZATION. 

"WE  HAVE  called  on  you,  Brother  Jones,"  said  Mr. 
John  Smith,  a  merchant  of  Browntown,  Tennessee,  "to 
ask  your  opinion  about  our  social  conditions.  The  times 
are  hard.  The  property  of  the  country  is  concentrating 
into  fewer  hands.  Class  distinctions  are  growing 
stronger.  You  and  I  can  remember  the  condition  of 
the  people  before  the  war.  There  is  a  great  change, 
and  it  is  a  very  sad  one.  Knowing  that  you  have 
thought  much  about  these  things,  we  wish  to  talk  with 
you." 

The  Jones  farm-house,  into  which  Mr.  Smith,  his 
wife,  his  daughter  Jenny  and  John  Robinson,  Esq.,  a 
young  lawyer  from  Massachusetts  who  had  recently  set- 
tled in  the  neighborhood,  had  just  entered,  was  on  the 
edge  of  Browntown,  a  thriving  railroad  town  in  Tennes- 
see. It  was  a  cottage  of  six  rooms,  with  a  long  porch  in 
front. 

The  Rev.  Jacob  Jones,  the  person  addressed,  was 
about  fifty -four  years  old,  had  received  a  good  education 

17 


18  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

in  high  school,  college  and  theological  seminary,  and 
had  had  a  varied  ministerial  experience  as  pastor,  evan- 
gelist and  editor.  He  was  a  book- worm,  near-sighted, 
absent-minded,  an  interesting  preacher,  and  about  five 
feet  ten  inches  tall  when  he  straightened  himself. 

The  Smiths  were  the  leading  family  in  the  Covenant 
Church  in  Browntown,  of  which  Mr.  John  Robinson 
was  also  a  prominent  member.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smith 
taught  the  two  Bible  classes  for  men  and  women.  Miss 
Jenny  Smith  had  an  interesting  class  of  girls,  and  Mr. 
Robinson  one  of  boys.  Mrs.  Smith  was  president  of  the 
ladies'  aid  society;  Miss  Jenny  was  secretary  of  the 
ladies'  missionary  society,  and  Jack  Robinson  was  the 
leader  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society.  The  Smiths 
were  of  course  Democrats,  but  Miss  Jenny  had  departed 
from  the  family  faith,  had  become  a  party  Prohibitionist 
and  had  joined  the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance 
Union.  Jack  Robinson  was  a  Republican. 

Parson  Jones  welcomed  his  visitors. 

"The  Republicans  promised  us  better  times,"  said 
Mrs.  Smith,  "but  I  see  little  difference.  If  anything, 
the  times  are  harder." 

"I  cannot  see  that  things  are  any  better  in  a  Demo- 
cratic state  or  under  a  Democratic  administration,"  Mr. 
Robinson  replied.  "They  said,  'Turn  the  rascals  out,' 
but  it  seems  to  me  that  there  were  just  as  many  rascals 
in  office  as  before." 

"Prohibition  will  make  things  better  if  it  ever 
comes,"  sighed  Miss  Smith.  "There  are  no  rogues  in 
my  party." 

"But  Prohibition  is  no  nearer  now  than  it  was  in  the 
fifties,"  replied  Mr.  Smith.  "And  if  your  party  ever 
gains  power  the  rascals  will  flock  into  it." 


CHRISTIAN  CIVILIZATION.  19 

"So  we  have  come  to  you,  Parson  Jones,  to  learn  what 
you  think  is  the  remedy  for  our  ills,"  Jack  Robinson 
said.  "We  know  that  you  have  thought  long  and  deeply 
about  these  matters ;  and  we  hope  that  you  will  help  us 
to  the  truth." 

"I  have  indeed  spent  time  and  strength  and  money 
on  these  problems,"  replied  the  parson,  "and  I  shall  be 
very  glad  indeed  to  help  you.  But  the  subject  cannot 
be  settled  in  a  half -hour  chat.  If  we  begin  I  hope  that 
we  will  have  sufficient  perseverance  to  finish." 

"We  are  all  quite  in  earnest,"  replied  Mr.  Smith. 

"We  ought  to  be,"  said  Miss  Jenny;  "for  there  is  no 
question  so  important  to  all  of  us." 

"The  hard  times  affect  the  prosperity  of  the  church," 
added  Mrs.  Smith.  "Twenty  years  ago  everybody  in 
Browntown  went  to  church.  Now  two-thirds  of  the 
people  are  non-attendants.  Although  the  population  has 
trebled,  the  churches  are  not  so  well  attended  now  as 
they  were  then." 

"All  these,  our  personal  interests,  our  regard  for  those 
who  will  come  after  us,  our  love  for  our  country  and  our 
love  for  our  church,"  said  Jack  Robinson,  "should  make 
us  persevere." 

"Go  a  little  deeper,  my  friends,"  said  Parson  Jones, 
"and  say  that  our  love  for  Christ  should  make  us  study 
the  problems  of  our  civilization  till  we  have  solved 
them ;  for  he  was  profoundly  interested  in  the  welfare 
of  men;  he  called  himself  'the  son  of  man' ;  he  said  that 
he  came  to  establish  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  If 
we  care  nothing  for  what  affects  the  happiness  of  all  the 
people,  if  we  joke  about  political  corruption,  if  we 
abandon  the  study  of  social  problems  as  matters  too 
hard  for  us,  if  we  refuse  to  spend  and  be  spent  in  intro- 


20  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

ducing  a  better  state  of  society,  we  lack  the  spirit  of 
Christ." 

"Then  you  think  more  religion  is  what  is  needed?" 
asked  Mrs.  Smith. 

"Yes  and  no,"  replied  Mr.  Jones.  "If  all  the 
people  were  converted,  joined  the  churches,  and  attended 
them  regularly,  it  would  make  very  little  difference  in 
our  condition  if  other  things  remained  as  they  are  now. 
They  are  wrong  who  say,  'Make  all  the  people  Christians 
and  then  we  shall  have  a  Christian  civilization.'  Some- 
thing more  than  sound  lumber  is  needed  to  build  a  house : 
there  must  be  a  plan,  and  the  lumber  must  be  properly 
fitted  and  nailed.  So  it  takes  more  than  Christian 
people  to  make  a  Christian  civilization.  The  laws,  the 
customs  of  business,  must  first  be  Christianized." 

"The  house  will  be  no  better  than  the  lumber  it  is 
built  of,"  said  Miss  Jenny. 

"Without  the  aid  of  the  carpenter  it  will  be  merely  a 
lumber  pile,"  added  Jack.  "A  house  built  of  sods,  in 
Nebraska  fashion,  would  be  a  better  residence." 

"The  conversion  of  the  people  will  not  suffice,"  con- 
tinued Mr.  Jones.  "This  is,  I  fear,  merely  an  excuse 
that  ministers  and  others  use  to  avoid  the  trouble  of 
studying  our  problems.  Legislation  and  taxation  and 
currency  need  to  be  converted.  A  Christian  man,  obey- 
ing unchristian  laws,  paying  unchristian  taxes,  using 
unchristian  currency,  leads  an  unchristian  life. 

"We  need  a  religion  that  will  Christianize  our  laws 
and  taxes,  our  trusts  and  monopolies,  our  politics  and 
parties,  our  currency  and  courts — that  is,  that  will  make 
all  these  conform  to  the  Bible.  The  trouble  is  that  our 
civilization  is  idolatrous — that  in  public  affairs  we  wor- 
ship false  gods." 


CHRISTIAN  CIVILIZATION.  21 

"We  do  not  understand  what  you  mean,"  Mrs. 
Smith  exclaimed.  "Ours  is  a  land  of  Bibles  and 
churches,  and  we  cannot  be  called  idolaters." 

"I  feared  that  you  would  not  understand  this  brief 
explanation,"  Mr.  Jones  replied,  "and  I  will  try  to 
make  myself  better  understood." 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE    HIGHER    LAW. 

"!T  WILL  help  us,"  Mr.  Jones  continued,  "to  write 
out  the  truths  we  establish.  It  will  aid  the  memory  and 
will  prevent  our  going  over  and  over  the  same  road. 
Therefore  I  propose  to  state  the  first  principle.  Write, 
please : 

" 'Principle  1. —  There  is  a  higher  law  to  which  all 
human  laws  should  conform.  It  is  the  law  of  God."" 

"This  is  a  dangerous  doctrine,"  Mr.  Smith  objected. 
"You  and  I,  Mr.  Jones,  remember  very  well  the  aboli- 
tionists and  how  they  prevented  a  peaceable  settlement 
of  the  slavery  question,  and  stirred  up  anger,  with  the 
doctrine  of  4a  higher  law.'  I  am  afraid  of  it." 

"My  father  claimed  to  be  a  charter  member  of  the 
Republican  party,"  Jack  Robinson  interrupted,  "but  he 
said  that  he  was  never  an  abolitionist." 

"Every  truth  may  be  abused,"  Mr.  Jones  argued; 
"nearly  every  truth  has  been  abused.  There  is  not  a 
doctrine  of  our  religion  that  has  not  been  perverted, 
hardly  a  scientific  or  mathematical  truth  that  has  not  led 
men  into  mistakes.  The  abolitionists  asserted  that  an 
idea  that  was  unknown  to  most  ages  and  nations,  that  was 
not  founded  on  the  consciences  of  mankind,  that  was 
not  established  by  science,  that  was  unknown  to  the 
Scriptures,  was  a  fundamental  principle  of  the  higher 


THE  HIGHER  LAW.  23 

law.  But  they  were  right  on  one  point.  There  is  a 
higher  law,  higher  than  any  human  sentiment,  than  the 
ordinances  of  legislatures  and  Congress,  above  even  the 
decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court." 

"Of  course  the  law  of  God  is  above  all  human  laws," 
said  Mrs.  Smith.  "There  can  be  no  dispute  about 
that." 

"I  think  that  there  is  something  on  the  subject  in 
Blackstone,"  Jack  Robinson  remarked. 

"I  have  a  copy  which  I  bought  and  read  when  I 
thought  I  would  be  a  lawyer,"  said  Mr.  Jones. 
"Charley,  please  fetch  it."  For  Mr.  Jones'  three  boys, 
as  well  as  Mrs.  Jones,  were  listening  to  the  talk. 

"But  what  has  the  law  of  God  to  do  with  the  tariff  or 
the  currency  or  the  trusts?"  asked  Miss  Jenny. 

"Can  we  suppose  that  God  knows  nothing  about  such 
matters?"  Mr.  Jones  inquired. 

"Certainly  not,"  Miss  Jenny  replied.  "Such  an 
idea  is  inconsistent  with  all  our  ideas  of  the  Deity." 

"Can  we  suppose  that  he  is  indifferent  to  them,  cares 
nothing  about  them,  has  no  will  about  them?"  Mr. 
Jones  asked  again. 

"I  never  thought  of  that,"  Miss  Jenny  mused.  "I 
hardly  know  how  to  answer.  I  always  supposed  that 
his  great  desire  was  that  men  should  be  holy." 

"God  made  all  things,"  said  George,  Mr.  Jones' 
youngest  boy,  "and  God  takes  care  of  all  things." 

"God's  work  of  providence,"  Jake,  the  oldest  boy, 
said,  "is  his  most  holy,  wise  and  powerful  preserving 
and  governing  all  his  creatures  and  all  their  actions." 

Smiling  at  these  interruptions,  Miss  Jenny  continued: 
"Yes,  I  suppose  that  God  is  interested  in  all  national 
affairs  and  approves  or  disapproves  of  all  laws,  taxes, 


24  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

tariffs,  etc.  He  is  the  God  of  nations  as  well  as  of  indi- 
viduals." 

"Put  it  stronger,  Jenny,"  exclaimed  her  father. 
"He  cares  about  the  welfare  of  men;  and  as  political 
events  affect  their  welfare,  he  must  be  very  much  inter- 
ested in  them.  To  suppose  otherwise  would  be  to  doubt 
his  love." 

Meanwhile  Charley  had  returned  with  Blackstone,  and 
Mr.  Robinson  had  found  the  passages  he  wanted.  Before 
he  could  read  them,  Miss  Jenny  asked,  "Who  is  Black- 
stone?" 

"He  is  the  master,"  replied  Mr.  Robinson,  "of  the 
common  law  on  which  all  statute  law,  both  here  and  in 
England,  rests.  He  is  an  acknowledged  authority. 
The  passages  I  thought  of  are  in  Book  I  of  his  Com- 
mentaries, pages  38  to  44.  Let  me  read  them : 

"  'Man,  considered  as  a  creature,  must  necessarily  be 
subject  to  the  laws  of  the  Creator,  for  he  is  a  dependent 
being. ' 

"  'As  man  depends  absolutely  upon  his  Maker,  it  is 
necessary  that  he  should  in  all  points  conform  to  his 
Maker's  will.' 

"  'The  law  of  nature,  being  coeval  with  mankind  and 
dictated  by  God  himself,  is  of  course  superior  in  obliga- 
tion to  any  other.  It  is  binding  over  all  the  world,  in  all 
countries,  and  at  all  times;  no  human  laws  are  of  any 
validity  if  contrary  to  this;  and  such  of  them  as  are 
valid  derive  all  their  force  and  all  their  authority  medi- 
ately or  immediately  from  this  original.' 

"  'The  revealed  law  is  of  infinitely  more  authority  than 
that  ethical  system  which  is  framed  by  moral  writers 
and  denominated  the  natural  law;  because  one  is  the 
law  of  nature  expressly  declared  to  be  so  by  God  himself ; 
the  other  is  only  what,  by  the  assistance  of  human 
reason,  we  imagine  to  be  that  law.' 


THE   HIGHER  LAW.  25 

"  'Upon  these  two  foundations,  the  law  of  nature  and 
the  law  of  revelation,  depend  all  human  laws ;  that  is  to 
say,  no  human  law  is  to  be  suffered  to  contradict 
them.'  " 

"Is  that  law?"  asked  Mr.  Smith. 

"Unquestionably  it  is,"  said  Mr.  Robinson.  "  'The 
seat  of  law  is  the  breast  of  God.'  ' 

"I  notice,"  said  Mr.  Jones,  "that  in  one  extract 
Blacks  tone  says  that  man  'should  in  all  points  conform 
to  God's  will.'  But  elsewhere  he  says  that  'no  human 
law  is  to  be  suffered  to  contradict'  the  law  of  nature  and 
the  law  of  revelation.  It  does  not  seem  to  me  that  the 
two  phrases  mean  the  same.  A  law  might  not  conform 
with  God's  law  and  yet  might  not  contradict  it.  Which 
is  Blackstone's  meaning?" 

"He  means,"  Jack  answered,  "that  they  should  con- 
form to  God's  law,  for  in  the  very  passage  in  which  he 
uses  the  word  'contradict'  he  says  that  all  human  laws 
'depend'  upon  the  law  of  nature  and  the  law  of  revela- 
tion, that  is,  upon  God's  law." 

"The  phrase  'not  contradict'  seems  more  accurate  to 
me,"  Mr.  Smith  said,  "because  many  human  laws  have 
no  relation  to  the  divine  law.  If  the  civil  laws  do  not 
contradict  the  law  of  God,  that  is  all  that  can  be 
required  of  them." 

"We  lawyers,"  Jack  Robinson  said,  "go  further  than 
that.  We  hold  that  human  justice  is  founded  on  the 
justice  of  God." 

"I  remember  a  case  in  point,"  said  Mrs.  Smith,  com- 
ing up,  like  a  good  wife,  to  the  defense  of  her  husband. 
"We  owned  a  lot  on  Main  Street  and  intended  to  build 
on  it.  Before  we  could  do  it  the  common  council 
extended  the  fire  limits,  and  as  we  could  not  build  in 


26  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

brick  we  sold  the  lot  and  bought  the  place  where  we  live 
now.  There  is  nothing  in  the  law  of  God  about  fire  limits 
or  frame  houses.  All  that  can  be  said  for  the  municipal 
ordinance  is  that  it  does  not  contradict  God's  law." 

"On  the  contrary,"  Jack  replied,  "it  conforms  to  the 
divine  law  and  is  founded  on  it.  The  law  of  God  forbids 
our  injuring  each  other  or  what  tends  to  do  it.  In  the 
judgment  of  the  common  council  the  erection  of  frame 
houses  on  Main  Street  would  endanger  other  property." 

"This  is  the  doctrine  of  Scripture,"  the  parson 
asserted.  "It  calls  rulers  judges  and  the  act  of  ruling 
judging.  Thus  we  have  the  Book  of  Judges.  The 
word  itself  contains  the  whole  science  of  sociology  or 
government.  The  duty  of  the  state  or  government,  its 
whole  duty,  its  only  end  and  object,  is  to  judge  and 
decide  what  the  law  of  God  requires  at  a  given  time  and 
place.  When  it  does  this  it  has  the  respect  and  love  of 
the  people ;  when  it  does  or  tries  to  do  more  than  this  it 
ceases  to  be  either  respected  or  loved." 

"But  do  not  the  theologians  divide  the  law  between 
the  moral  and  positive  precepts?"  Mr.  Smith  inquired. 
"Corresponding  to  this,  must  we  not  say  that  some 
human  laws  are  the  expression  of  the  mere  will  of  the 
legislature?" 

"What  is  the  distinction?"  asked  Miss  Jenny. 

"The  moral  precepts  forbid  things  wrong  in  them- 
selves," her  father  explained.  "The  positive  precepts 
forbid  things  that  are  wrong  merely  because  they  are 
forbidden." 

"The  law  of  man  knows  no  such  distinction,"  the 
young  lawyer  replied.  "In  the  settlement  of  questions 
in  the  courts  we  try  to  find  the  reason  of  the  law,  and 
it  helps  us  to  reach  a  just  settlement  of  disputes.  We 


THE  HIGHER  LAW.  27 

do  not  and  cannot  suppose  that  lawmakers  would  enact 
laws  without  some  reason." 

"The  distinction  in  the  divine  laws  helps  us  to  study 
them,"  the  minister  said.  "But  this  is  the  difference. 
In  the  moral  precepts  we  can  see  the  reason  why  they  are 
made;  but  in  the  positive  precepts  we  cannot.  The 
difference  is  in  us  and  not  in  the  laws.  All  of  God's 
commandments  are  holy  and  wise  and  good." 

"I  think  of  a  good  illustration,"  Miss  Jenny 
exclaimed.  "One  day  when  I  was  little  papa  said  to 
me,  'Daughter,  do  not  stand  so  close  to  the  fire.'  He 
added  directly,  'And  do  not  touch  the  bottle  on  the 
mantle.'  I  knew  at  the  time  that  my  frock  might 
catch  fire  and  burn  me  to  death,  but  I  did  not  know  for 
years  what  a  poison  arsenic  is.  One  was  a  moral  precept 
and  the  other  a  positive  precept." 

"Excellent,"  Mr.  Jones  said.  "It  will  increase  our 
regard  for  human  law  to  remember  that  every  law  is  an 
interpretation  of  the  divine  law,  or  an  application  of  it 
to  present  circumstances." 

"What,  then,  is  the  use  of  passing  laws?"  Mr.  Smith 
objected.  "All  are  acquainted  with  the  law  of  God." 

"But  no  one,"  said  the  lawyer,  "is  a  competent  judge 
in  his  own  case." 

"The  deliberate  judgment,"  the  parson  added,  "of 
those  elected  to  interpret  and  apply  the  law  of  God  to 
our  present  conditions  has  more  weight  than  any  private 
opinion. 

"I  will  add  that  any  human  law  that  is  not  founded 
on  the  divine  law,  that  does  not  appeal  to  man's  sense  of 
right  and  justice,  is  generally  weak,  is  very  apt  to  do 
harm,  frequently  creates  lawlessness,  and  always  tends  to 
diminish  respect  for  government  and  love  of  country." 


CHAPTER   III 

THE    BEST   LAW    BOOK. 

1  {!T  is  growing  late,"  Mrs.  Smith  reminded  her  hus- 
band. 

"We  have  time  for  one  more  statement,"  said  Mr. 
Jones.  "Please  write  the  second  principle: 

"Principle  2. — The  Bible  is  the  surest  and  plainest 
means  of  learning  the  higher  law  of  nations." 

"Blackstone  says  the  same,"  said  the  lawyer,  when  he 
had  copied  the  principle  into  his  note-book.  "I  will 
read  from  Book  I,  pages  41  and  42 : 

"  'Providence,  in  compassion  to  the  frailty,  the  imper- 
fection and  the  blindness  of  human  reason,  hath  been 
pleased,  at  sundry  times  and  in  divers  manners,  to  dis- 
cover and  enforce  its  laws  by  an  immediate  and  direct 
revelation.  The  doctrines  thus  revealed  we  call  the 
revealed  or  divine  law,  and  they  are  to  be  found  only  in 
the  Holy  Scriptures.  These  precepts,  when  revealed, 
are  found,  upon  comparison,  to  be  really  a  part  of  the 
original  law  of  nature,  as  they  tend  in  all  their  conse- 
quences to  man's  felicity.  But  we  are  not  from  thence 
to  conclude  that  the  knowledge  of  these  truths  was 
attainable  by  reason  in  its  present  corrupted  state;  since 
we  find,  until  they  were  revealed,  they  were  hid  from  the 
wisdom  of  ages.  As,  then,  the  moral  precepts  of  this  law 
are  indeed  of  the  same  origin  with  those  of  the  law  of 
nature,  so  their  intrinsic  obligation  is  of  equal  strength 
and  perpetuity.  Yet  undoubtedly  the  revealed  law  is  of 

28 


THE  BEST  LAW  BOOK.  29 

infinitely  more  authenticity  than  that  moral  system 
which  is  framed  by  ethical  writers  and  denominated  the 
natural  law;  because  one  is  the  law  of  God,  expressly 
declared  to  be  so  by  God  himself;  the  other  is  only 
what,  by  the  assistance  of  human  reason,  we  imagine  to 
be  that  law.  If  we  could  be  as  certain  of  the  latter, 
both  would  have  equal  authority,  but,  till  then,  they 
can  never  be  put  in  any  competition  together.'  " 

"I  thought,"  said  Mrs.  Smith,  "that  the  Bible  was  a 
religious  book." 

"One  meaning  of  religious,"  her  husband  replied,  "is 
conscientious.  We  certainly  need  more  conscience  in 
politics." 

"Enlightened  conscience,  if  you  please,"  interjected 
the  preacher.  "Perverted  conscience,  ignorant  con- 
science, will  do  only  harm  in  politics ;  and  the  best  means 
to  enlighten  and  inform  the  conscience  is  the  Bible." 

"Does  the  Bible,"  Miss  Jenny  asked,  "throw  any 
light  upon  national  or  political  questions,  upon  the 
problems  of  our  civilization?" 

"As*  God  wishes  man  to  be  happy,"  Mr.  Jones 
answered,  "he  would  not,  indeed  could  not,  refuse  or 
neglect  to  give  him  information,  in  any  revelation  he 
might  make,  upon  those  subjects  with  which  man's 
happiness  is  so  closely  joined. 

"When  we  examine  the  Bible  we  find  it  is  composed 
of  two  parts  which  are  quite  unlike.  One  part, 
although  it  refers  occasionally  to  national  life,  deals 
chiefly  with  individuals.  This  part  contains  the  books 
of  Job  and  the  Song  of  Solomon,  and  all  of  the  New 
Testament  except  Revelation.  The  other  part  of  the 
Bible,  although  it  refers  to  the  individual  life  and  most 
of  it  may  be  applied  to  individuals,  deals  mainly  with 
the  national  life.  It  contains  the  five  books  of  Moses, 


30  UNCLE  SAM'S   BIBLE. 

the  historical  books,  the  prophetical  books  and  the  last 
book  in  the  New  Testament,  Psalms,  Proverbs  and 
Ecclesiastes.  In  it  are  thirty-nine  of  the  sixty-six  books 
of  the  Bible,  833  out  of  1254  pages  of  an  English  Bible. 
The  origin  and  growth  of  a  nation  and  its  laws  are 
recorded  by  Moses.  The  history  of  its  prosperity  and 
adversity  is  given  in  the  books  that  follow.  The 
prophets  are  inspired  statesmen,  and  the  prophecies 
contain  their  advice  and  their  remonstrances  to  the 
nation.  Revelation  gives  the  world's  history  to  its  end. 
In  this  part  of  the  Scripture  there  is  a  sociology 
unequaled  and  unrivaled.  Moses  was  a  statesman  who 
formed  out  of  debased  peasants  a  nation  that  has  out- 
lived all  others.  Isaiah  was  the  most  sublime  of  all 
poets.  Daniel  was  the  prime  minister  of  two  oriental 
empires,  and  John  was  the  apostle  closest  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

"Christians  do  not  read  nor  understand  nor  love  this 
part  of  the  Bible,  which  is  two-thirds  of  the  whole,  as 
they  should. 

"Psalms,  Proverbs  and  Ecclesiastes  have  a  mixed 
character.  They  contain  the  sentiments  of  David  and 
Solomon  as  individuals  and  as  statesmen."* 

"Why,"  asked  Mr.  Smith,  "do  not  Christians  under- 
stand and  love  the  prophecies?" 

"Because  they  have  a  wrong  idea  of  them,"  replied 
the  minister.  "They  do  not  realize  that  the  law  and 
the  prophets  are  dealing  with  politics,  are  teaching 
sociological  truths,  and  that  they  refer  to  personal  sal- 
vation only  by  application.  If  we  made  a  similar  error 
about  the  Psalms  and  the  Gospels,  if  we  taught  that  they 

*Dr.  S.  C.  Dodds,  of  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  will  accept  the  author's 
thanks  for  a  suggestion  about  the  Psalms. 


THE  BEST  LAW  BOOK.  31 

referred  mainly  and  chiefly  to  affairs  of  state,  it  would 
spoil  them  for  us.  Take  the  twenty-third  psalm  for  an 
example.  'Shepherd,'  in  the  Scriptures,  often  means  a 
civil  ruler.  If  we  read  the  psalm,  'The  Lord  is  my 
magistrate, '  it  would  be  as  obscure  to  us  as  any  chapter 
in  Jeremiah  is  to  the  average  reader. 

"The  political  or  sociological  reading  of  the  sociologi- 
cal, or  political  portions  of  the  Bible  will  make  them  new 
to  us.  There  are  ripe  fruits  in  them  to  be  had  for  the 
plucking.  Their  leaves  will  heal  the  nation.  Their 
doctrines  will  put  an  end  to  poverty  and  crime,  to  pau- 
perism and  to  soul-destroying  luxury,  and  will  place  all 
the  people  in  such  a  position  that  the  Gospel  can  reach 
them  and  save  their  souk." 

"Would  you  object,"  asked  the  lawyer,  "to  the  appli- 
cation of  these  portions  of  Scripture  to  personal  con- 
duct?" 

"Certainly  not,"  the  minister  answered,  "no  more 
than  I  should  object  to  the  application  of  texts  in  the 
Gospels  and  Epistles  to  national  affairs.  Much  that  is 
true  of  nations  is  true  of  and  can  be  wisely  applied  to 
the  citizens  composing  them;  and  conversely,  much  that 
is  true  of  individuals  is  true  of  the  nations  which  they 
compose.  But  let  us  never  forget  that  the  Bible  con- 
tains the  higher  law  of  nations,  and  is  meant  for  nations 
as  well  as  for  individuals." 

"Are  there  any  other  guides  to  the  higher  law 
besides  the  Bible?"  was  a  question  from  Miss  Jenny. 

"Very  many,"  was  the  answer.  "I  will  mention 
some:  Conscience.  Reason  shows  what  agrees 
with  the  higher  law  in  being  beneficial.  Nature  is  a 
revelation  of  the  Creator.  The  law  of  nations.  The 
laws  of  different  states  and  cities,  of  the  churches,  of 


32  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

clubs  and  societies.  Parliamentary  law.  History. 
Statistics;  but  though  figures,  like  letters,  never  lie,  yet 
lies  contained  in  figures  are  harder  to  be  seen  by  the 
inexpert  than  those  contained  in  words.  Books  on 
political  economy  or  sociology.  Political  speeches  and 
articles.  Proverbs.  Poetry.  General  literature." 

"Must  I  study  all  these,"  asked  Mrs.  Smith,  "to  learn 
the  higher  law?" 

"They  may  help,"  answered  Mr.  Jones,  "but  the 
Bible  is  the  surest  guide  to  it." 

"How  do  they  help?"  Mr.  Smith  asked. 

"They  illustrate  and  enforce  the  teachings  of  the 
Bible,"  replied  the  preacher.  "But  they  have  great 
imperfections.  First,  they  contradict  each  other. 
Proverbs  can  be  quoted  on  any  side  of  any  question. 
Writers  and  speakers  refute  each  other.  Laws,  even  of 
the  same  state,  conflict,  and  the  laws  of  different  states 
differ  widely.  Secondly,  they  are  obscure.  The  lessons 
of  history  are  read  differently.  Statistics  are  perilous  to 
the  unlearned.  Finally,  they  are  frequently  erroneous. 
Consciences  are  perverted  by  self-interest.  Nature  is 
deformed  by  man.  Laws  are  dictated  by  avarice. 
Philosophers  are  fallible  and  poets  fanciful.  The  Bible 
alone  is  sure  and  true." 

So  ended  the  first  night's  discussion.  Mr.  Smith 
invited  the  preacher  and  his  wife  to  tea  on  the  follow- 
ing Tuesday  night;  and  the  guests  left,  the  married 
people  in  advance. 

"We  had  an  instructive  evening,"  Miss  Smith 
remarked  to  Mr.  Robinson. 

"Very,"  was  the  reply.  "Do  you  know  that  I  have 
admired  your  courage  in  joining  the  Woman's  Christian 


THE  BEST  LAW  BOOK.  33 

Temperance  Union?  It  must  have  been  hard  for  one  so 
young,  and — excuse  me — so  lovely.5' 

"It  is  hard,"  replied  the  girl,  blushing  in  the  dark. 
"You  know  that  prejudice  against  the  Union,  but  you 
do  not  know  how  strong  it  is  among  the  women." 

"No,  I  suppose  not,"  the  young  man  answered,  "and 
yet  it  is  merely  an  expression  of  the  interest  that  every 
woman  should  feel  in  the  welfare  of  our  country ;  for  the 
women  especially  suffer  from  the  evils  of  our  civilization. 
The  men  can  protect  themselves  better." 

"I  agree  with  you,"  was  the  reply.  "The  women  and 
the  children  are  the  greatest  sufferers — for  example,  the 
drunkard's  family." 

"And  yet,  thoughtless  as  the  men  are  about  these 
evils,  the  women  seem  to  be  more  thoughtless." 

"You  are  right,  I  fear.  But  how  any  Christian,  any 
follower  of  Jesus,  who  went  about  doing  good,  can  be 
indifferent  to  the  laws  that  are  making  tramps  and 
paupers  and  drunkards,  I  cannot  imagine." 

It  was  a  hard  problem  for  the  two  to  solve,  and  they 
did  not  solve  it  in  their  mile  walk  to  Browntown. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

CHKIST   AND    KEFOKM. 

ON  THE  following  Tuesday,  November  7,  1897,  when 
Mr.  Jones  arrived  at  the  Smith  residence  he  found  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Luther  Calvin  Wesley,  pastor  of  the  Covenant 
Church,  in  the  parlor  with  the  Smith  family.  After  the 
usual  greetings  and  an  apology  for  the  non-appearance 
of  Mrs.  Jones,  Mr.  Smith  said: 

"As  tea  is  not  quite  ready  and  Mr.  Robinson  has  not 
come,  would  you  mind  telling  us  how  you  became 
interested  in  social  reform?" 

"Certainly  not,"  Mr.  Jones  replied.  "I  suppose  I 
inherited  it  from  my  mother.  She  was  raised  on  a  farm 
in  a  New  England  village  (for  she  was  a  descendant  of 
one  of  the  early  settlers  who,  the  family  tradition  says, 
owned  the  site  of  Boston  when  it  was  an  elder  swamp), 
and  afterwards  she  lived  in  the  city.  Thus  she  watched 
our  development  for  sixty  years,  and  she  was  always 
talking  about  our  'civilization.' 

"Fifteen  years  ago  I  became  pastor  of  the  church  at 
'Washingtonville.  A  mile  south  of  the  village  was  a  com- 
munity unlike  any  I  had  ever  seen,  extremely  poor,  but 
entirely  honest.  Forty  families  lived  on  a  tract  of  land 
that  would  not  have  made  a  good  farm.  Each  family 
owned  an  acre  of  ground  and  a  log  shanty.  They  did 
not  work  and  they  did  not  steal.  I  was  called  to 
minister  to  them,  and  became  much  interested  in  them. 

34 


CHRIST  AND  REFORM.  35 

"A  few  years  later  I  discovered  that  political  economy 
is  not  a  dead  but  a  live  science.  Having  leisure,  I  wrote 
a  series  of  sermons  on  the  sociological  teachings  of  the 
Bible,  which  I  afterwards  expanded  into  a  book.  No 
New  York  publisher  would  publish  these  Bible  truths. 
I  asked  my  noble  wife  if  I  should  publish  them  myself, 
telling  her  that  it  would  probably  reduce  my  professional 
income.  She  told  me  to  publish  God's  truth.  Since 
then  I  have  had  leisure  to  study  these  questions,  for,  of 
course,  I  have  no  church." 

"It  is  a  pity,"  Dr.  Wesley  said,  "that  you  should 
waste  your  life." 

"No  life  is  wasted,"  Mr.  Jones  replied,  "that  reveals 
to  the  world  Bible  truths  that  have  been  forgotten." 

Then  Mr.  Robinson  came  in  and  the  tea  bell  rang.  It 
is  not  necessary  to  describe  the  supper;  for  everybody 
knows  what  a  good  housekeeper  Mrs.  Smith  is. 

After  tea  the  party  reassembled  in  the  parlor.  The 
principles  already  written  were  read.  Dr.  Wesley  entirely 
approved  them,  and  Mr.  Jones  was  asked  to  proceed. 

"Write,  then,"  he  said,  "the  third  principle,  as 
follows : 

"Principle  3. — One  part  of  the  mission  of  Christ  is 
to  propagate  throughout  the  world  the  political  prin- 
ciples of  the  Old  Testament." 

"I  protest,"  exclaimed  Dr.  Wesley.  "Christ  came  to 
save  sinners. " 

"How  better  can  he  save  sinners,"  asked  Mr.  Jones, 
"than  by  introducing  public  righteousness?  Can  you 
preach  successfully  to  a  man  who  is  full  of  whisky  or 
empty  of  bread?  Did  you  ever  know  a  genuine  tramp 
to  be  converted  and  join  the  church?" 


36  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

' 'No,"  Dr.  Wesley  admitted,  "I  never  did  and  never 
expect  to.  Paul  fully  describes  the  mission  of  Christ. 
He  calls  him  'the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every 
one  that  believeth.'  " 

"The  lowest  view  taken  of  Christ  admits  him  to  be  a 
great  teacher,"  Mr.  Jones  replied.  "The  young  ruler 
who  went  away  sorrowful  from  him  called  him  'Good 
Master.'  Nicodemus  said,  'We  know  that  thou  art  a 
teacher  come  from  God.'  All,  even  those  who  deny  his 
divinity,  acknowledge  him  to  be  the  greatest  teacher  of 
men.  Taking  this  lowest  view  of  Christ,  is  it  conceiv- 
able that  he  was  ignorant  of  the  truths  of  sociology  or 
that  he  should  refuse  or  neglect  to  teach  them? 

"On  the  two  principles  already  accepted  by  us  the  case 
is  stronger.  If  there  is  a  higher  law,  and  if  it  is  taught 
in  the  Old  Testament,  Christ  could  not  refuse  to  teach 
and  enforce  it. 

"As  to  the  quotation  from  Romans,  does  Paul, 
could  Paul,  describe  in  one  verse  the  whole  work  of 
Christ?  The  Epistles  give  us  one  view  of  the  mission  of 
Christ,  the  Prophets  give  us  another  view  of  it;  to 
understand  it  fully  we  must  combine  both  views.' 

"But  the  view  in  the  Epistles  is  the  most  important," 
rejoined  Dr.  Wesley. 

"Do  the  Scriptures  anywhere  authorize  us  to  compare 
the  doctrines  of  God  and  to  say  that  one  is  less  important 
than  another?"  Mr.  Jones  argued.  "Was  not  this  one 
error  of  the  Pharisees?  They  compared  the  precepts  of 
the  law  and  decided  that  the  paying  of  tithes  was  more 
important  than  justice,  mercy  and  faith,  and  they  had 
many  plausible  arguments  to  support  their  opinion;  for 
without  support  the  ordinances  of  religion  could  not 
be  sustained  and  the  knowledge  of  God  might  perish." 


CHRIST  AND  REFORM.  37 

"In  that  very  passage,"  Mr.  Robinson  said,  "Christ 
said  that  justice,  mercy  and  faith  were  weightier  matters 
of  the  law." 

"He  alone  could  decide  such  a  point ;  he  never  author- 
ized men  to  sit  in  judgment  on  the  law  of  God,"  was 
the  reply  of  Mr.  Jones.  "But  in  saying  that  justice, 
which  is  a  function  of  the  state  or  government,  is  a 
weightier  matter  than  the  support  of  religion,  he  would 
lead  us  to  conclude  that  the  view  of  his  mission  con- 
tained in  the  Prophets  is  as  important  and  necessary  as 
the  view  of  his  work  found  in  Romans  and  Galatians. 
He  came  to  justify  and  sanctify  sinners,  as  Paul  states; 
but  he  came  also  to  reform  civil  government,  according 
to  Isaiah.  We  are  not  to  subordinate  one  of  these 
objects  to  the  other." 

"Do  not  the  two  objects  conflict?"  asked  Mrs.  Smith. 

"They  would  if  Christ,  like  Mahomet,  had  tried  to 
reform  civil  abuses  by  force,  by  the  sword,"  was  the 
response.  "But  he  reforms  nations,  as  he  does  indi- 
viduals, by  moral  and  spiritual  means.  His  two  aims 
help  each  other.  When  the  masses  see  that  Christ  is 
the  great  leader  in  the  reform  of  the  abuses  of  govern- 
ment which  are  oppressing  them,  they  will  come  to  him 
also  for  justification  and  sanctification.  When  men  see 
that  Christ's  teaching  is  practical,  that  it  abolishes 
trusts,  secures  an  honest  and  just  currency,  removes 
oppressive  taxes  and  enables  them  to  carry  on  business 
more  safely  and  honestly,  there  will  be  as  many  men  as 
there  are  women  in  the  churches. " 

'"Theoretical,    Brother    Jones,"    said     Dr.    Wesley. 
"Your  proof?" 

"Matthew,  after  giving  an  account  of  the  birth  of 
Jesus  and  the  work  of  John  the  Baptist,"  was  the  reply, 


38  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

"says  from  that  time  Jesus  began  to  preach  and  to  say, 
'Kepent,  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand.'  A 
little  further  on  we  read :  'Jesus  went  about  all  Galilee, 
teaching  in  their  synagogues  and  preaching  the  gospel 
of  the  kingdom,  and  healing  all  manner  of  sickness.' 
Mark's  account  begins  in  the  same  manner:  'Jesus 
came -into  Galilee  preaching  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom 
of  God.'  Luke  begins  his  account  of  Christ's  work  by 
telling  how  he  read  in  the  synagogue  at  Nazareth  the 
prophecy  of  Isaiah:  'The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me, 
because  he  hath  anointed  me  to  preach  the  gospel  to 
the  poor ;  he  hath  sent  me  to  heal  the  broken-hearted, 
to  preach  deliverance  to  the  captives  [prisoners],  and 
recovery  of  sight  to  the  blind,  to  set  at  liberty  them 
that  are  bruised  [those  in  jail],  to  preach  the  acceptable 
year  [the  year  of  jubilee]  of  the  Lord.'  We  ought  not 
to  allegorize  these  all  a\vay.  Christ's  work  is  to  intro- 
duce the  kingdom  of  heaven — of  God." 

"But  it  is  a  spiritual  kingdom,"  responded  Dr. 
Wesley. 

"It  is  a  queer  kingdom  if  it  has  nothing  to  do  with 
taxation  and  currency  and  the  making  and  execution  of 
laws,"  the  lawyer  interjected. 

"Certainly  it  is  a  spiritual  kingdom,"  replied  Mr. 
Jones,  "as  spiritual  in  the  political  as  in  the  individual 
sphere,  both  as  regards  theological  and  political  truths. 
He  uses  the  same  methods,  the  awakening  and  the 
instruction  of  conscience,  to  reform  public  wrongs  and 
personal  sins." 

"I  see,"  Dr.  Wesley  acknowledged,  "that  the  spiritual 
nature  of  Christ's  kingdom  does  not  conflict  with  its- 
political  aims.  Please  proceed." 

"As  each  president  at  the  beginning  of  his  administra- 


CHRIST  AND   REFORM.  39 

tion  delivers  an  inaugural  address,"  Mr.  Jones  said,  "so 
Jesus,  after  appointing  the  apostles,  delivered  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount.  First  he  describes,  in  the 
Beatitudes,  the  characteristics  of  loyal  citizens  or  sub- 
jects, and  then,  at  once,  states  the  object  of  his  work. 
Miss  Jenny,  please  read  Matthew  5:17-20." 
She  read : 

"Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the  law,  or  the 
prophets :  I  am  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfill.  For 
verily  I  say  unto  you,  Till  heaven  and  earth  pass,  one 
jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  nowise  pass  from  the  law  till 
all  be  fulfilled.  Whosoever  therefore  shall  break  one  of 
these  least  commandments,  and  shall  teach  men  so,  he 
shall  be  called  the  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  .  .  . 
For  I  say  unto  you,  That  except  your  righteousness  shall 
exceed  the  righteousness  of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  ye 
shall  in  no  case  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

"You  notice,"  Mr.  Jones  said,  "that  Christ  states  the 
object  of  his  coming  into  the  world  to  be  to  fulfill,  to 
complete,  carry  into  effect,  perform  the  law  and  the 
prophets.  These  refer  mainly  to  national  affairs,  deal 
chiefly  with  political  problems.  This  is  the  object  of  his 
first  coming,  not  of  his  second.  'I  am  come,'  he  says, 
not  'I  will  come,'  'to  fulfill'  'the  law  and  the  prophets' 
— to  carry  into  effect  the  sociological  truths  contained  in 
them  that  will  end  all  war,  stop  all  oppression  and 
abolish  all  poverty  that  is  not  the  result  of  the  vice  or 
sickness  of  the.  individual. 

"The  true  follower  of  Christ  will  sympathize  with 
him,  will  take  part  in  his  work.  Those  who  do  not  are 
not  true  followers.  The  scribes  and  Pharisees  sought 
only  to  save  themselves,  their  families,  friends  and  dis- 
ciples. Pharisee  means  separatist.  Instead  of  trying  to 


40  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

save  their  nation  or  the  world  they  separated  themselves 
from  it.  Such  had  no  part  in  the  kingdom  Christ  was 
setting  up." 

"Can  any  true  Christian,"  asked  Miss  Jenny,  "give 
his  vote  and  influence  to  a  political  party  that  sustains 
the  saloons?" 

"Or  to  a  party,"  added  her  father,  "that  favors  a  cur- 
rency that  is  robbing  debtors  and  destroying  industry?" 

"What  about  helping  a  party  that  gives  favors  to 
trusts?"  the  lawyer  added. 

"Many,  whose  piety  cannot  be  doubted,"  Dr.  Wesley 
responded,  "do  vote  with  such  parties." 

"The  question  of  personal  responsibility,"  Mr.  Jones 
said,  "will  be  duly  considered,  but  now  I  wish  to  call 
your  attention  to  the  power  of  the  agency  for  political 
and  social  reform  which  Christ  inaugurated  on  the 
Mount  of  Blessings.  Knowledge  without  zeal  is  as 
weak  as  the  classic  philosophy;  zeal  without  knowledge 
is  mischievous.  But  the  sociological  wisdom  of  God 
himself,  revealed  to  us  in  the  law  and  the  prophets, 
made  ali^e  by  the  love  of  Christ,  who  died  for  us,  is  a 
force  that,  but  for  the  blindness  of  Christians,  would 
speedily  abolish  all  oppression,  all  war  and  all  poverty." 

"  'The  poor  ye  have  with  you  always,'  "  quoted  the 
pastor. 

"As  long  as  there  is  sickness  and  death,  "^replied  Mr. 
Jones,  "there  will  be  invalids,  widows  and  orphans; 
and  as  long  as  men  are  idle  or  intemperate  they  should 
suffer  for  their  vices.  But  when  Christians  understand 
the  mission  of  Christ  and  co-operate  in  it,  none  will 
seek  for  work  in  vain,  every  workman  will  have  full 
wages,  and  every  family  will  sit  under  its  own  vine  and 
fig-tree," 


CHRIST  AND  REFORM.  41 

"But  Christ  said,  'My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,5  " 
Mr.  Smith  objected. 

"So  he  did,"  the  preacher  replied;  "but  it  was  in 
answer  to  Pilate,  whose  only  idea  of  royal  authority  lay 
in  swords.  He  affirmed  at  the  same  time  that  he  was  a 
king,  and  had  a  kingdom  of  truth — a  spiritual  king- 
dom.7' 

"He  refused  to  be  a  judge  or  a  divider,"  objected  Mr. 
Smith. 

"Because  he  had  never  been  elected  or  appointed  a 
judge,"  Mr.  Jones  explained.  "For  him  to  have 
assumed  the  office  would  have  been  a  usurpation,  an 
invasion  of  the  rights  of  the  people." 

"He  said,  'Render  to  Cassar  the  things  that  are 
Caesar's,'  thus  refusing  to  decide  a  political  question," 
Dr.  Wesley  argued. 

"He  had  no  right  to  decide  the  question,"  Mr.  Jones 
replied.  "The  decision  of  the  question  whom  the  people 
would  obey  belonged  to  the  people;  and  Jesus  was 
jealous  of  their  rights.  But  his  answer  assures  us  that 
our  political  duties  are  as  important,  as  holy,  as  sacred, 
as  our  religious  duties." 


CHAPTEK    V. 

EXPEDIENCY    VS.    RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

THE  declaration  that  political  duties  are  as  sacred,  holy 
and  important  as  religions  duties  caused  some  surprise, 
but  no  one  disputed  it.  After  a  pause,  Mr.  Jones  said: 
"Please  place  in  your  note-books  the  fourth  principle: 

"Principle  4-  —  Righteousness,  conformity  to  the 
higher  law,  exalteth  a  nation.'''' 

"Surely  it  is  not  necessary  to  delay  over  this  prin- 
ciple," said  Dr.  Wesley.  "It  is  merely  affirming  that 
'honesty  is  the  best  policy.'  " 

"Many  business  men  do  not  believe  thai,"  said  the 
merchant,  "if  we  may  judge  by  their  actions." 

"And  few  of  our  citizens,"  Mr.  Jones  said,  "believe 
our  fourth  principle,  if  we  can  judge  by  the  arguments 
addressed  to  them  by  the  political  speakers  and  writers. 
In  the  tariff  discussion,  for  example,  no  one  has  ventured 
to  affirm  that  protection  is  enjoined  by  God,  and  no  one 
has  proclaimed  that  all  import  duties  are  an  abomination 
to  the  Lord.  Yet  if  our  God  is  interested  in  our  wel- 
fare, one  or  the  other  is  true.  Only  one  argument  has 
been  used  on  both  sides.  The  advocates  of  protection 
for  eighty  years  have  argued  that  it  would  enrich  us,  and 
for  the  same  time  its  opponents  have  argued  that  it  was 
impoverishing  us.  The  debate  has  not  advanced  a 
step  since  my  recollection." 

43 


EXPEDIENCY  VS.    RIGHTEOUSNESS.  43 

"Why  is  that?"  asked  the  lawyer. 

"It  arises  from  the  nature  of  the  argument,"  was  the 
reply.  "Whether  a  particular  law  has  been  profitable  to 
the  whole  nation  in  the  past  only  the  experts  can  judge. 
Whether  it  is  advantageous  or  disadvantageous  at  the 
present  is  a  still  harder  question.  Whether  it  will  be 
beneficial  or  injurious  in  the  future  God  only  knows. 
This  is  one  reason  why  our  tariff  debate  has  made  no 
progress  in  forty  years,  and  will  make  none  in  the  next 
forty,  if  we  continue  to  argue  it  in  the  same  way. 

"Another  reason  is  that  when  the  expediency  of  a  law 
or  tax  is  debated  each  class,  each  section,  each  indi- 
vidual, thinks  first  and  mainly  of  its  own  interests. 
There  are  as  many  points  of  view  as  there  are  different 
interests.  If  you  hitch  four  horses  to  the  four  corners 
of  a  carriage  and  whip  them  all,  the  carriage  would  make 
no  progress.  Indeed,  it  would  be  in  danger  of  being 
torn  in  pieces.  It  is  a  fair  illustration  of  our  social  and 
political  condition." 

"You  will  please  except  the  Prohibition  party  from 
your  condemnation,"  Miss  Jenny  said.  "They  look 
upon  political  questions  from  a  moral  standpoint." 

"Yes,  the  majority  of  the  members  of  both  the  Pro- 
hibition and  the  Liberty  parties,"  Mr.  Jones  replied, 
"look  at  social  questions  in  the  fear  of  God.  But  they 
together  are  only  a  small  minority  of  our  people.  And 
not  all  of  them  do  it.  I  remember  when  the  constitu- 
tional amendment  forbidding  saloons  was  before  the 
voters  of  Tennessee,  I  argued  the  question  before  the 
people  from  the  ground  of  expediency ;  for  I  then  con- 
scientiously thought  that  expediency,  policy,  was  the 
rule  ordained  of  God  for  the  decision  of  public  questions. 
But  God  has,  I  trust,  forgiven  my  idolatry  of  expediency, 


44  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

since  the  Holy  Spirit  made  use  of  it,  among  other 
means,  to  show  me  the  sacredness  of  political  reform. 
But  the  majority  of  the  voters  in  the  other  parties, 
more  than  nine-tenths  of  our  people,  still  follow  expedi- 
ency as  their  guide  in  political  questions." 

"Please  except  also  the  Republican  party,"  the 
Eepublican  lawyer  said.  "In  the  last  presidential  elec- 
tion their  chief  argument  was  that  the  national  honor 
required  a  sound  currency." 

"Was  it?"  Mr.  Jones  questioned.  "Did  they  not 
tell  the  wage-earners  that  the  remonetization  of  silver 
would  diminish  the  purchasing  power  of  their  wages? 
And  was  not  this  an  appeal  to  their  self-interest? 
Besides,  national  honor  is  not  the  same  as  righteous- 
ness." 

"Indeed!"  all  his  hearers  exclaimed  at  once. 

"Honor  has  a  double  meaning.  Sometimes  it  refers 
to  obtaining  our  own  self-respect,  but  oftener  to  obtain- 
ing glory  from  others.  National  honor  is  of  the  second 
kind.  It  requires  consistency.  Eighteousness  fre- 
quently demands  repentance.  Honor  leads  to  pride, 
righteousness  to  humility.  Honor  seeks  to  exalt  our 
nation  above  others ;  righteousness  teaches  that  all  are 
brethren.  Honor  makes  us  prefer  our  nation  above 
others;  righteousness  puts  all  on  an  equality,  and  by 
doing  this  promotes  the  prosperity  of  all.  Honor  causes 
war;  righteousness  will  bring  universal  peace.  The 
standard  of  honor  is  human  sentiment ;  the  standard  of 
righteousness  is  the  Bible.  National  honor  is  another 
false  god  which  the  nations  are  worshiping.  It  is  a 
nobler  deity  indeed  than  Mammon  or  expediency.  But 
it  brings  the  displeasure  of  Jehovah,  who  is  jealous  of 
his  own  glory." 


EXPEDIENCY  VS.   RIGHTEOUSNESS.  45 

"Can  you  not  except  the  church  from  your  charge  of 
idolatry?"  the  pastor  of  the  Covenant  Church  asked. 

"In  their  families,  in  society,  often  in  business,  and 
nearly  always  in  church  matters,"  Mr.  Jones  answered, 
"the  church  members  follow  righteousness  and  try  to 
conform  their  lives  to  the  law  of  God.  But  in  politics 
they  agree  with  then-  fellow-citizens,  vote  with  them, 
and  are  influenced  by  the  same  arguments." 

"But  the  good  citizenship  movement  in  the  Christian 

Endeavor  Society "  began  the  leader  of  that  body  in 

the  Covenant  Church. 

"Is  a  sign  of  progress,  and  an  omen  of  hope,"  Mr. 
Jones  interrupted.  "But  its  scope  is  limited.  As  the 
society  is  composed  of  men  of  all  parties,  it  has  to  avoid 
the  questions  which  are  in  dispute  between  them.  That 
is,  it  has  to  avoid  all  the  moral  questions,  such  as  the 
currency  and  the  tariff,  which  are  prominently  before 
the  public — all  the  questions  that  are  up  for  settle- 
ment." 

"The  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union  at  least 
meets  your  approval,"  said  its  member. 

"Certainly,  and  I  earnestly  approve  of  the  Christian 
or  good  citizenship  movement,  so  far  as  it  goes,"  Mr. 
Jones  said.  "The  W.  C.  T.  U.  is  free  from  the  limi- 
tations of  the  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.,  because  its  members  are 
not  voters.  But  they  are  too  modest.  They  do  not 
discuss  and  agitate  the  political  questions  before  the  pub- 
lic, such  as  the  currency,  the  tariff,  the  trusts,  etc." 

"We  ladies  are  not  supposed,"  Miss  Jenny  said,  "to 
understand  such  questions." 

"If  they  are  questions  of  expediency,"  Mr.  Jones 
replied,  "you  are  right,  for  no  one  can  understand  them, 
as  our  experience  shows.  But  if  they  are  moral  ques- 


46  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

tions,  questions  of  right  or  wrong,  the  women  are  well 
qualified  to  discuss  them,  for  they  have  clear  moral  per- 
ceptions. 

"This  leads  me  to  speak  of  another  reason  for  adopt- 
ing the  fourth  principle.  All  have  the  data  of  ethics. 
There  is  a  Bible  in  every  house.  While  none  know  and 
few  can  guess  intelligently  whether  a  proposed  measure 
will  be  advantageous  to  the  whole  nation,  every  one  .can 
form  an  "intelligent  opinion  as  to  whether  it  is  right  or 
wrong. 

"The  question  of  expediency  makes  every  one  think 
first  and  most  of  his  own  interests ;  but  the  question  of 
righteousness  leads  all  to  turn  their  backs  to  this  selfish- 
ness. Righteousness  is  stronger  still,  thank  God,  with 
the  majority  of  our  people,  than  self-interest.  They 
will  do  more,  endure  more,  give  more  for  righteousness. 

"This  habit  of  thinking  chiefly  of  self-interest  in 
considering  political  questions  is  the  cause  of  the 
scurrility  which  debases  our  political  discussions  and 
confuses  our  voters.  Every  candidate  for  office  is  a 
scoundrel.  Every  proposed  measure  is  prompted  by 
base  motives.  Charges  and  countercharges  are  made  and 
repeated  till  the  average  citizen  is  utterly  confused.  If 
public  questions  were  debated  as  moral  problems  this 
pernicious  custom  would  disappear. 

"For  these  reasons  we  cannot  hope  to  make  progress 
in  the  reform  of  the  abuses  that  are  afflicting  our  nation 
till  we  regard  every  public  question  solely  as  a  moral 
question,  a  question  of  conformity  or  non-conformity  to 
the  will  of  God." 


CHAPTEE    VI. 

THE    FIRST   DUTY    OF    CHRISTIANS. 

THERE  was  a  lull  in  the  conversation,  and  Mr.  Smith 
put  some  wood  and  coal  on  the  fire,  which  had  died 
down.  Dr.  Calvin  Wesley  asked:  "What  is  the  next 
principle,  Brother  Jones?"  The  reply  was: 

"Principle  5. — The  first  duty  of  all  Christians  is  to 
study  the  Bible  politically,  in  a  reverent  spirit  and  in  a 
thorough  manner." 

Dr.  Wesley,  hiding  a  yawn  with  his  hand,  asked: 
"Of  course  it  is  not  necessary  to  go  into'  the  evidences, 
but  what  to  your  mind,  Brother  Jones,  is  the  strongest 
proof  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible?" 

"Its  political,  industrial  and  social  effects,"  was  the 
answer.  "Where  there  are  most  Bibles  and  the  Sabbath 
is  best  observed,  there  we  find  higher  wages,  more  liberty 
and  more  intelligence.  This  is  true  in  every  continent 
and  every  climate." 

"I  noticed  the  difference  between  Texas  and  Mexico 
in  my  trip  south  last  winter,"  said  Mr.  Smith. 

"There  is  the  same  difference,"  said  Mr.  Robinson, 
"between  New  England  and  lower  Canada." 

"I  remarked  it,"  Mr.  Jones  said,  "in  a  summer 
vacation  in  Europe  twenty  years  ago.  The  Rev.  T.  M. 
C.  Birmingham,  in  his  book  'Scriptural  Politics,'  has 
shown  that  the  difference  exists  all  over  the  world. 

47 


48  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

Wages  are  lowest  in  heathen  lands  and  increase  with 
every  increase  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Bible." 

"What  is  meant  by  the  political  study  of  the  Bible?" 
Mrs.  Smith  inquired. 

"Discovering  what  it  teaches  about  the  political 
questions  of  the  day,"  replied  Mr.  Robinson. 

"Is  it  not  very  hard,"  Mr.  Smith  suggested,  "to  do 
this?" 

"I  think  not,"  was  the  reply  of  Mr.  Jones.  "The 
material  is  so  abundant,  and  so  plain,  that  the  diligent 
and  reverent  student  will  have  little  trouble.  There  are 
ten  texts  forbidding  oppression,  I  believe,  for  every  one 
asserting  the  divinity  of  Christ  or  explaining  the  mode 
of  justification." 

"As  many  as  that?"  Dr.  Wesley  spoke. 

"I  have  never  counted  them,"  Mr.  Jones  replied. 
4  *  But  some  years  ago  I  read  through  the  Bible  to  see 
what  it  said  about  land,  and  I  marked  a  passage  bearing 
upon  it  on  almost  every  page.  There  are  nearly  as 
many  more  illustrating  the  duties  of  civil  government." 

"You  surprise  me,"  said  the  pastor. 

"There  are  many  surprising  things  in  the  Bible," 
rejoined  Parson  Jones.  "The  political  study  of  the 
Bible,  I  can  assure  you  from  my  own  experience,  will 
make  it  a  new  and  more  interesting  book  to  you." 

"Will  it  not  create  the  'theologicum  odium' — bigotry, 
political  fanaticism?"  Dr.  Wesley  objected. 

"Why  should  Bible  study  have  such  an  effect?"  Mr. 
Jones  answered.  "On  the  contrary,  the  persecuting 
ages  and  churches  have  been  marked  by  the  absence  of 
the  study  of  the  Bible.  The  study  of  the  Bible  makes 
us  pity  instead  of  hating  those  who  are  laboring  under 


THE  FIRST  DUTY  OF  CHRISTIANS.  49 

"How,  then,  do  you  account  for  the  bloody  zeal  of  the 
Scottish  covenanters?"  Mr.  Robinson  asked.  "They 
were  Bible  students." 

"We  look  at  them  mostly  in  the  novels  of  Scott,  who 
was  led  by  his  political  prejudices  and  the  novelist's 
needs  to  exaggerate  their  peculiarities,"  the  minister 
replied.  "Their  hatred  they  learned  in  the  school  of 
persecution,  from  Claverhouse,  and  not  from  Moses  or 
Christ." 

"But  it  will  increase  our  political  divisions,"  Mr. 
Smith  said.  "There  are  five  hundred  denominations  in 
our  land." 

-"Some  make  the  fathers  or  tradition  or  modern  cul- 
ture," Mr.  Jones  explained,  "an  equal  authority  in 
religion  with  the  Bible.  But  are  not  those  who  accept 
the  Bible  as  the  sole  and  sufficient  religious  guide  sub- 
stantially agreed  as  to  what  it  teaches  about  the  moro 
important  topics,  about  sin  and  redemption,  faith  and 
repentance,  the  Trinity  and  the  Savior?  As  the  Bible 
contains  much  more  about  sociology  than  about  theology 
there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  there  will  be  a  similar 
unanimity  about  the  great  questions  of  reform." 

"I  preached  in  Knoxville  the  other  Sunday,"  Dr. 
Wesley  remarked,  "and  while  going  down  the  aisle  of 
the  church  one  man  told  me  that  my  sermon  was  a  good 
Presbyterian  sermon,  another  that  it  was  a  good  Baptist 
sermon,  and  another  that  it  was  a  good  Methodist  ser- 
mon." 

"That  reminds  me  of  an  incident  in  Johnson  City," 
said  Brother  Jones.  "I  strolled  one  Wednesday  night 
into  a  prayer-meeting ;  I  did  not  know  of  what  denomi- 
nation it  was,  and  I  tried  to  guess.  The  hymn  book 
had  no  denominational  imprint,  and  from  neither  the 


50  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

hymns,  the  prayers  nor  the  exhortations  could  I  form 
any  opinion." 

"It  seems  likely,"  said  the  merchant,  "that  the 
differences  between  Bible  students  in  regard  to  practical 
matters  would  be  fewer  than  about  theoretical  and  doc- 
trinal questions." 

"What  is  the  reverent  study  of  the  Bible?"  asked 
Miss  Jenny. 

"The  reverent  Bible  student,"  replied  Mr.  Jones, 
"will  neither  stand  before  the  inspired  men  to  dispute 
with  them,  nor  above  them  to  have  them  re-echo  his 
sentiments,  but  will  sit  at  their  feet  to  learn  of  them. 
One  sentence  from  them  will  outweigh  all  the  books  of 
merely  human  writers.  For  example,  Malthus  asserts 
that  the  evils  of  our  civilization  come  from  the  increase 
of  population.  But  to  the  reverent  Bible  student  the 
command,  'Be  fruitful  and  multiply  and  replenish  the 
earth,'  makes  all  the  Malthusian  literature  a  heap  of  rub- 
bish. 

"More  than  this,  nearly  every  American  has  political 
preferences,  inherited  from  honored  parents  and  asso- 
ciated with  friends.  The  reverent  student  will  prefer 
the  Bible  to  them." 

"What  is  the  thorough  study  of  the  Bible?"  Miss 
Jenny  asked. 

"Such  study  of  its  politics  as  the  church  gives  to  the 
texts  that  bear  on  the  plan  of  salvation  and  the  character 
of  the  Savior,"  was  the  explanation.  "It  involves  read- 
ing, reflection  and  discussion." 

"What  helps  are  there  to  such  study?"  the  lawyer 
inquired. 

"None,  I  am  sorry  to  say,"  replied  Mr.  Jones.  "It 
seems  unfortunately  to  be  the  fate  of  the  church  to  be 


THE  FIRST  DUTY  OF  CHRISTIANS.  51 

able  to  see  only  a  part  of  the  Savior's  character  and  mis- 
sion at  a  time.  The  Jewish  rabbis  could  not  see  that 
Christ  was  to  die,  and  the  Christian  teachers  do  not 
realize  that  Christ  is  to  reign  over  the  earth,  do  not  see 
the  force  of  their  prayer,  'Thy  kingdom  come,  thy  will 
be  done  in  earth.'  All  Bible  dictionaries  and  commen- 
taries are  of  some  use.  The  works  of  Dr.  Strong  and 
Prof.  Ely  deal  with  the  general  spirit  of  Christianity, 
but  do  not  explain  the  text." 

"Where  do  you  get  the  word  'first'  from?"  asked  Dr. 
Wesley.  "  'The  first  duty  of  Christians  is  to  study  the 
Bible  politically.'" 

"From  Timothy,  1:19—2:4,"  replied  Mr.  Jones. 
"Miss  Jenny,  please  read  it." 

And  she  read  from  the  large  family  Bible  on  the 
center  table,  in  a  clear,  sweet  voice,  as  follows : 

"Some,  concerning  faith,  have  made  shipwreck:  of 
whom  is  Hymenseus  and  Alexander ;  whom  I  have  deliv- 
ered unto  Satan  that  they  may  learn  not  to  blaspheme. 
I  exhort,  therefore,  that,  first  of  all,  supplications,  pray- 
ers, intercessions  and  giving  of  thanks  be  made  for  all 
men ;  for  kings  and  for  all  that  are  in  authority ;  that 
we  may  lead  a  quiet  and  peaceable  life  in  all  godliness 
and  honesty.  For  this  is  good  and  acceptable  in  the 
sight  of  God  our  Savior ;  who  will  have  all  men  to  be 
saved  and  to  come  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth." 

"What  is  the  connection?"  asked  Dr.  Wesley. 

"Prayer  and  study  go  together,"  began  Mr.  Jones. 

"Yes,  the  missionary  monthly,"  Miss  .Jenny  inter- 
rupted him,  "helps  us  to  pray  for  the  foreign  mission- 
aries. If  we  knew  nothing  about  foreign  missions  we 
could  not  pray  for  them." 

"Paul  gives  four  reasons,"  Mr.  Jones  continued, 
"why  Christians  should  be  interested  'first  of  all'  in  the 


5$  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

question  of  civil  rulers.  Only  in  this  way  can  they 
promote  the  salvation  of  all  men.  When  we  work  and 
pray  for  the  church  we  labor  for  a  minority  of  the 
people.  For  our  own  sakes  we  should  study  the  polit- 
ical teachings  of  the  Bible  and  reform  our  politics.  As 
they  who  live  in  a  malarious  district  have  fever  and 
ague,  so  those  who  live  in  a  corrupt  civilization  lead 
corrupt  lives.  We  should  do  it  also  for  the  sake  of  the 
backsliders  who  have  made  shipwreck  of  the  faith." 

"How  so?"  asked  Miss  Jenny. 

"I  will  illustrate,"  Mr.  Jones  replied.  "A  church 
member  buys  a  house  for  two  thousand  dollars  and  pays 
one  thousand  down.  The  seller  and  buyer  have  an 
equal  interest  in  the  house.  The  purchaser  is  unable  to 
pay  the  rest,  and  the  seller  forecloses  the  mortgage  and 
takes  the  house.  A  wrong  has  been  committed,  and  the 
ministers  and  church  members  tacitly  approve  it.  Other 
church  members  labor  for  insufficient  wages,  and  Chris- 
tians utter  no  protest.  Of  course,  they  lose  interest  in 
religion. " 

"They  are  very  unreasonable,"  Dr.  Wesley  remarked. 

"Men  suffering  under  wrong  are  never  reasonable," 
Mr.  Jones  replied.  "The  fourth  reason  Paul  gives  is 
that  this  primary  interest  of  Christians  in  politics  is  well 
pleasing  to  God  our  Savior,  who  wishes  the  salvation 
of  all  men." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  JUDGMENT  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

MBS.  SMITH  had  left  the  room  a  little  while  before, 
and  she  now  returned  with  a  basket  of  apples  and  several 
knives.  After  the  apples  had  been  enjoyed,  Mr.  Smith 
said: 

"It  seems  to  me  that  what  we  have  heard  to-night 
throws  some  light  upon  the  question  of  reading  the 
Bible  in  the  public  schools." 

"If  the  Bible  is  at  the  basis  of  our  industrial,  social 
and  political  welfare,"  Dr,  Wesley  observed,  "it  is  mad- 
ness to  banish  it  from  our  common  schools." 

Mr.  Jones  paid  no  attention  to  these  remarks,  but  bent 
over  the  grate,  absentmindedly  warming  his  hands. 
He  now  sat  up  and  said:  "We  have  time,  I  suppose,  for 
one  more  principle  to-night.  Please  write  it : 

" Principle  6. —  Whoever  consciously  and  intentionally 
rejects  or  neglects  the  political  teachings  of  the  Bible  is 
guilty  of  a  great  sin,  of  which  he  should  at  once  repent." 

Dr.  Wesley  almost  rose  from  his  seat  as  he  said:  "I 
object  to  this,  Brother  Jones.  I  have  three  sermons  to 
prepare  every  week.  I  have  to  visit  my  people.  I  have 
to  keep  abreast  of  current  literature.  Moreover,  if  I 
showed  any  active  interest  in  these  matters  I  should  lose 
my  position,  and  my  family  would  suffer." 

"It  is  more  painful  to  me  to  say "  began  Mr. 

53 


54  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

Jones,  apologetically,  but  he  was  interrupted  by  Mr. 
Robinson,  who  said: 

"It  is  as  rough  on  the  people  as  on  the  ministers. 
'Like  people,  like  priest.'  ' 

"It  is  harder  on  the  people,"  said  Dr.  Wesley,  more 
quietly,  "for  they  would  lose  much  less  by  taking  an 
interest  in  reform.  With  the  ministry  it  is  a  question  of 
bread  and  butter.  I  am  glad,  Jack,  that  you  quote  the 
old  proverb  correctly.  The  priests  are  what  the  people 
make  them,  what  the  people  pay  them  to  be." 

"The  reputation  of  a  crank,"  Mr.  Smith  said,  "is  a 
disadvantage  to  any  business  man." 

"A  merchant's  opinions  don't  affect  the  quality  of  his 
goods,"  said  Mrs.  Smith,  "so  that  crankiness  does  not 
injure  him  as  it  does  a  clergyman." 

"Exactly  so,"  said  Dr.  Wesley,  smiling  on  Mrs. 
Smith.  "If  I  were  to  advocate  Brother  Jones'  notions 
my  invalid  wife  would  lack  some  of  the  comforts  her 
condition  requires." 

"Suppose  we  call  them  Bible  doctrines,"  said  the 
leader  of  the  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.,  "instead  of  'Brother  Jones' 
notions,'  for  I  have  not  yet  heard  anything  unsound." 

"Have  it  your  own  way,  Jack,"  replied  the  Doctor; 
"but  I  can't  accept  them." 

"I  recognize  the  limitations  of  the  pulpit,"  Mr.  Jones 
?aid,  abstractedly,  "but  the  ministers  should  not  brag 
that  they  preach  'the  whole  counsel  of  God.'5  Mr. 
Jones  should  not  have  said  this,  for  only  two  Sundays 
before  he  had  heard  Dr.  Wesley  preach  an  eloquent  and 
learned  sermon  from  Paul's  words :  "I  have  not  shunned 
to  declare  unto  you  the  whole  counsel  of  God."  But  he 
only  remembered  it  after  he  had  spoken. 

"The  ministers  by  their  ordination  vows  pledge  them- 


THE  JUDGMENT  OF  THE  CHURCH.      55 

selves  to  follow  the  Bible,"  Mr.  Robinson  said.  "In 
political  matters  they  do  not  do  it.  They  have  perjured 
themselves." 

''This  is  intolerable,"  exclaimed  Dr.  Wesley,  rising 
from  his  seat  and  going  to  the  door. 

Good  Mrs.  Smith  hastily  interposed:  "Dear  Dr. 
Wesley,  I  am  sure  no  one  would  intentionally  hurt  your 
feelings." 

At  the  same  time  Miss  Jenny  said  in  a  low  tone  to  the 
lawyer:  "I  am  surprised  that  you  should  insult  our 
pastor." 

Mr.  Jones  said  quickly:  "I  assure  you,  my  brother, 
that  my  language  was  not  intended  to  be  personal." 

Mr.  Eobinson  said  the  same,  and,  the  others  speaking 
kindly,  the  Doctor  took  his  seat  again  and  Mrs.  Smith 
said  to  Mr.  Jones:  "Suppose  you  explain  the  principle 
which  seems  so  offensive,  and  give  your  reasons  for 
adopting  it." 

"Before  doing  so,"  Mr.  Jones  began,  "let  me  say 
that  it  was  with  deep  regret  that  I  framed  the  sentence 
that  condemns  the  church.  I  am  a  son  of  the  church 
and  a  child  of  the  Puritans.  Two  hundred  and  sixty- 
seven  years  ago  my  forefathers  left  their  pleasant  home 
in  the  west  of  England  to  live  among  wild  men  and 
wild  beasts  for  the  sake  of  the  Gospel.  The  church 
contains  the  best  people  of  the  present  age,  as  it  did  also 
in  the  time  of  Christ.  It  is  a  pain  to  me  to  see  any 
fault  in  it,  and  much  more  to  point  it  out.  But  you 
have  asked  me  to  tell  you  the  way  to  reform  the  evils  of 
our  civilization,  and  I  could  not  do  it  without  mention- 
ing the  great  sin  of  the  church  of  to-day. 

"If  you  will  look  at  your  note-books,"  Mr.  Jones  con- 
tinued, "you  will  see  that  the  act  is  described  by  two 


56  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

words,  'rejection  or  neglect'  of  the  political  teachings  of 
the  Bible,  and  two  words  are  used  to  describe  the  way  in 
which  the  sin  is  committed — 'consciously  and  intention- 
ally.' 

"Neglect  of  the  Bible  is  as  bad  as  rejection;  so  far  as 
the  result  is  concerned,  it  may  be  worse.  The  traveler 
who  neglects  to  ask  directions  is  worse  off  when  he  has 
lost  his  way  than  the  one  who  has  rejected  the  direc- 
tions, for  the  latter  may  recall  and  follow  them. 
Neglect  shows  less  interest  than  rejection. 

"The  act  of  rejecting  the  political  principles  of  the 
Bible  must  be  conscious  and  intentional  before  it  is  an 
unpardonable  sin.  American  Christians  have  done  it 
unconsciously  and  unintentionally.  The  times  of  ignor- 
ance God  winked  at;  but  now  he  commands  us  to 
repent.  In  the  days  of  the  fathers  who  shaped  the 
theology  and  the  character  of  our  various  denominations 
— of  Cotton  Mather,  of  Eoger  Williams,  of  the  Tennents, 
of  Asbury,  of  Bishop  White — we  lived  individual  lives, 
we  dwelt  on  separate  farms,  we  raised  most  of  what  we 
consumed.  I  myself  once  talked  with  an  old  gentleman 
who  told  me  that  he  went  twice  a  year  to  my  wife's 
grandfather's  to  make  shoes  for  all  the  family,  white  and 
black,  out  of  leather  furnished  to  him.  Then  our 
people  wore  homespun.  The  fortune  of  each  was  in  his 
own  keeping;  if  he  was  frugal,  industrious  and  temper- 
ate he  prospered.  In  that  age,  when  the  character  of 
our  various  churches  was  formed,  it  was  natural  that  the 
individual  bearings  of  the  Gospel  should  be  emphasized. 
All  this  is  now  changed.  We  lead  social  lives.  No  one 
wears  homespun  or  consumes  what  he  produces.  The 
fortunes  of  none  are  now  in  their  own  keeping.  A 
panic  starting  ten  thousand  miles  away  may  impoverish 


THE  JUDGMENT  OF  THE  CHURCH.      57 

us  after  it  has  twice  crossed  the  ocean.  By  his  provi- 
dence God  now  commands  us  to  study  the  social  aspects 
of  the  Gospel. 

"You  ask  my  reasons  for  believing  this  principle. 
The  first  is  the  doctrine  of  faith.  Whoever  consciously 
and  intentionally  neglects  or  rejects  the  word  of  God 
thereby  declares  that  God  is  a  liar  and  destroys  all  har- 
mony and  communion  between  himself  and  God.  If  he 
could  enter  heaven  it  would  be  misery  for  him.  For 
example,  if  God  says  that  the  proper  way  to  punish  theft 
is  by  a  double  or  a  fourfold  restitution,  and  I  say  that 
the  proper  way  to  punish  it  is  by  imprisonment,  and  do 
it  consciously  and  intentionally,  I  do  thereby  put  myself 
out  of  harmony  with  God  and  out  of  reach  of  his  mercy." 

" Pretty  stiff  doctrine!"  muttered  Dr.  Wesley,  very 
low. 

But  Mr.  Smith,  who  was  sitting  next  him,  heard  him 
and  asked  whether  it  was  sound  doctrine. 

Dr.  Wesley  said:  "He  hasn't  proved  that  God 
ordains  restitution  now." 

"No,  I  have  not,"  said  Mr.  Jones,  who  heard  the 
answer,  "but  I  put  a  case  to  you  as  a  theologian:  If 
God  says  anything,  and  I  consciously  and  intentionally 
deny  it,  what  then?" 

"You  would  do  it  at  your  soul's  peril,"  was  the 
response. 

"The  second  reason  I  have  for  believing  the  prin- 
ciple," continued  Mr.  Jones,  "is  the  last  warning  in  the 
Bible.  Will  you  read  it,  Miss  Jenny?  Revelation  22: 
18-19." 

She  read  as  follows : 

"I  testify  unto  every  man  that  heareth  the  words  of 
the  prophecy  of  this  book,  If  any  man  shall  add  unto 


58  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

these  things,  God  shall  add  unto  him  the  plagues  that 
are  written  in  this  book ;  and  if  any  man  shall  take  away 
from  the  words  of  the  book  of  this  prophecy,  God  shall 
take  away  his  part  out  of  the  book  of  life,  and  out  of  the 
holy  city,  and  from  the  things  which  are  written  in  this 
book." 

"The  words  are  plain  and  sure,"  Mr.  Jones  explained. 
"A  large  part  of  the  Bible,  over  two-thirds,  refers  to 
national  welfare.  He  who  presumptuously  neglects  it 
does  it,  as  Brother  Wesley  says,  'at  his  soul's  peril.' 
For  such  neglect  is  virtually  taking  it  from  the  Bible. 

"The  last  reason  I  shall  give— I  could  give  many — is 
Isaiah's  parable  repeated  by  Christ.  God  has  given  to 
us  a  fair  vineyard,  reaching  from  the  lakes  to  the  gulf, 
and  from  ocean  to  ocean,  over  sea  coast  and  mountain 
and  prairie,  yielding  nearly  every  vegetable  and  mineral 
product  that  men  can  desire  and  embracing  nearly 
every  climate.  He  wants  fruit  from  us.  He  has 
sent  unto  us  many  messengers:  Moses  the  statesman, 
Samuel  the  seer,  David  the  king,  Solomon  the  wise 
man,  Isaiah  the  poet,  Daniel  the  prime  minister,  and 
last  and  best  of  all,  his  own  Son — they  have  repeated  his 
message  in  every  form,  in  poetry  and  prose,  in  history 
and  prophecy,  in  parables  and  proverbs.  The  fruit  he 
wants  is  justice  and  righteousness.  Instead  of  justice 
there  is  the  oppression  of  trusts  and  monopolies,  the 
extortion  of  usury  and  of  unjust  taxation,  and  instead  of 
righteousness  there  is  the  cry  of  the  poor  and  afflicted. 
If,  instead  of  listening  to  the  messengers  of  the  lord  of 
the  vineyard,  we  deliberately  turn  our  backs  to  them  and 
shut  our  ears,  what  will  he  do?" 

"He  will  miserably  destroy  the  wicked  husbandmen," 
said  Miss  Jenny,  softly. 


THE  JUDGMENT  OF  THE  CHURCH.      59 

"God  forbid,"  added  Dr.  Wesley  as  softly. 

There  was  a  long  pause.  It  was  growing  late.  Mr. 
Smith  at  length  said,  "We  are  making  fine  progress." 

"We  have  laid  the  foundation,"  Mr.  Jones  said, 
"that  there  is  a  higher  law,  that  it  is  in  the  Bible, 
and  that  it  should  be  studied.  We  are  now  ready  to 
study  the  question:  What  does  the  Bible  say  about 
politics?" 

"I  think  it  the  most  important  question  of  our  age," 
said  Mr.  Smith.  His  wife  and  daughter  and  Mr.  Rob- 
inson agreed  with  him.  Dr.  Wesley  was  silent.  After 
a  hospitable  debate  it  was  agreed  that  they  should  meet 
at  Mr.  Jones'  on  the  following  Tuesday  afternoon. 

Dr.  Wesley  and  Mr.  Jones  went  away  together  and 
Mr.  Robinson  remained — perhaps  to  apologize  further  to 
Miss  Jenny  for  his  rudeness  to  her  pastor. 

As  the  two  clergymen  walked  Dr.  Wesley  said:  "I 
suppose  you  think  that  ministers  should  preach  politics?" 

"I  do  not,"  was  the  reply,  "for  several  reasons.  I 
will  mention  two.  In  the  present  state  of  Bible  sociology 
discussion  is  more  needed  than  oratory ;  and  the  pulpit 
does  not  allow  debate.  The  other  is  that  ministers  can- 
not teach  what  they  have  never  learned." 

"What,  then,  would  you  have  ministers  do?"  was  the 
next  question. 

"First  inform  themselves  about  social  questions  and 
their  Bibles ;  then  get  converted,  believe  God  and  their 
Bibles;  and  finally  take  up  their  crosses  and  follow 
Christ — make  sacrifices  for  him.  It  is  only  what  I 
have  done ;  but  I  sometimes  doubt  whether  I  would  have 
done  it  if  I  had  foreseen  what  it  involved." 

"The  expression  of  such  sentiments,"  the  courtly 
divine  replied,  "will  make  you  disliked  in  the  associa- 


"60  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

tion.  Are  you  not  afraid,"  he  added,  after  a  slight 
pause,  "that  your  brethren  will  disfellowship  you?" 

"No,  I  think  not,"  the  other  answered.  "I  am 
more  in  accord  with  the  standard  of  orthodoxy  in  our 
denomination  than  they  are.  The  standards  were 
written  in  a  more  earnest  age  than  this." 

Having  reached  the  corner  where  their  roads  separated, 
the  two  ministers  parted  very  amicably. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE   DUTY   OF   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT. 

ON  THE  following  Tuesday  afternoon,  November  14, 
1897,  Mr.  Robinson  drove  Mrs.  Smith  and  her  daughter 
and  his  cousin,  Miss  Juliet  West,  to  Fairview,  Mr. 
Jones'  farm.  Mr.  Smith  had  been  detained  by  unex- 
pected business  and  Dr.  Wesley  sent  word  that  he  had  to 
visit  the  sick.  (As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Wesley  was  enjoying  an  elegant  dinner  at  General  Syl- 
vester's, who  had  been  suffering  from  rheumatism  for 
the  last  five  years.) 

Miss  Juliet  West  was  from  Boston,  and  had  stopped 
over  in  Browntown  a  few  days  on  her  way  to  spend  the 
winter  in  Florida.  She  was  about  thirty-five  years  old, 
was  very  richly  and  expensively  dressed,  wore  spectacles, 
and  carried  in  her  arms  a  very  fat  and  wheezy  lap-dog. 

The  party  stepped  from  the  surrey,  the  horse  was 
hitched,  and  Miss  West  was  introduced  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Jones,  who  came  out  to  welcome  then*  guests.  As  they 
mounted  the  low  porch,  Miss  Jenny  turned  to  look  at 
the  view.  She  proposed,  as  the  evening  was  so  mild, 
that  they  all  have  seats  on  the  porch.  Miss  West 
feared  it  would  be  chilly,  and  she  was  accommodated 
with  a  rocking-chair  in  the  open  door.  As  she  glanced 
into  the  room  and  saw  the  plain  furniture  and  the  rag 
carpet,  she  evidently  thought  that  her  friends  had 
brought  her  into  an  odd  place,  for  she  gathered  her 
dainty  skirts  very  closely  about  her. 

61 


62  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

It  was  a  view  worth  studying.  To  the  southwest  a 
range  of  hills  was  separated  from  Fairview  by  a  narrow 
valley.  On  the  south  the  horizon  was  bordered  by 
Bays  Mountain,  a  range  that  stretches  from  the 
Virginia  line  half  way  to  Chattanooga.  In  front  of  it 
lay  Browntown.  On  the  southwest  were  the  Browntown 
heights,  sprinkled  with  cottages.  A  little  farther  on 
was  a  bold  knob  called  Crockett's  Ridge,  after  David 
Crockett,  the  famous  frontiersman  of  Tennessee  and 
Texas.  Another  mountain  filled  most  of  the  north- 
ern horizon,  but  fell  towards  the  east  and  gave  a  glimpse 
of  Clinch  Mountain,  twenty  miles  away. 

"It  is  very  pretty,  indeed,"  said  Miss  West;  "not  so 
grand  as  the  scenery  about  Asheville  nor  so  wild  and 
picturesque  as  the  valley  of  the  French  Broad,  which  I 
saw  last  week;  but  for  a  residence,  dear  Mrs.  Jones,  I 
think  I  should  prefer  this  locality  to  either." 

Before  she  could  reply  Mr.  Jones  said  abstractedly: 
"Yes,  this  is  a  beautiful  world,  beautiful  everywhere. 
Every  place,  the  seashore,  the  hills,  the  valleys,  the 
piedmont  region,  the  mountains,  the  prairies,  has  its 
own  peculiar  charm.  If  there  were  no  legal  oppression, 
if  the  Gospel  could  have  a  fair  chance,  earth  would  be 
heaven." 

"I  am  exquisitely  delighted,  Mr.  Jones,  to  have  the 
opportunity  of  hearing  your  views,"  Miss  West 
responded,  "for  I  often  heard  my  twin  brother,  Julian, 
who  perished  in  the  conflagration  of  his  residence  in  the 
year  1887,  converse  about  reform.  " 

All  asked  about  the  fire,  and  Miss  West  explained: 
"He  insisted  on  living  in  an  old  house  alone  with  an 
odious  man  servant  named  Sawyers.  It  was  quite  odd, 
almost  eccentric.  The  house  was  consumed  on  May  30, 


THE  DUTY  OF  CIVIL  GOVERNMENT.  63 

1887,  and  he  undoubtedly  perished  in  the  ruins.  He 
frequently  conversed  about  the  anomalies  of  our  civiliza- 
tion, which,  in  spite  of  all  its  apparent  defects,  is  the 
consummation  of  the  ages.  On  one  occasion,  indeed, 
at  a  dinner  party  at  a  Mr.  Bartlett's,  he  was  quite 
violent  on  the  subject." 

"Very  well,"  Mr.  Jones  quietly  remarked,  "we  will 
continue  the  discussion .  where  we  left  off  last  week. 
The  next  principle  is : 

11  Principle  7. — The  sole  and  only  duty  and  end  of 
civil  government  is  to  do  justice,  to  secure  to  each  and 
all  the  rights  given  them  by  God." 

"Is  not  this  a  very  narrow  and  contracted  view  to  take 
of  the  functions  and  province  of  government?"  Miss 
West  was  the  objector.  "The  power  of  the  social 
organization  should  be  used  to  raise  the  material  and 
moral  welfare  of  the  whole  body  of  the  sovereign  people 
to  the  highest  possible  point,  to  secure  the  same  degree 
of  welfare  to  all." 

"Nothing  promotes  the  material  and  moral  welfare  of 
the  people,"  Mr.  Jones  said,  "more  than  religion." 

"You  are  so  delightfully  old-fashioned, "  Miss  West 
interjected. 

Without  noticing  the  remark,  Mr.  Jones  continued: 
"In  most  other  countries  and  in  all  previous  ages  it  has 
been  thought  that  the  power  of  the  social  organization, 
the  nation,  the  government,  should  be  used  to  pay 
clergymen  and  build  and  repair  churches.  We  have  no 
religion  established  by  law;  for  we  have  learned  better. 
We  know  that  religion  prospers  most  when  the  state 
keeps  its  hands  off,  lets  it  entirely  alone." 


64  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

"Our  experience  in  this  respect  certainly  confirms  the 
principle,"  Mrs.  Smith  said. 

"Art  also  contributes  to  the  welfare  of  the  people;  for 
innocent  pleasure  is  a  moral  benefit,"  said  Mr.  Jones, 
continuing  the  argument.  "Formerly  it  was  thought 
that  government  should  patronize  the  fine  arts.  But 
this  opinion  has  been  generally  abandoned. 

"Literature  also  increases  the  material  and  moral  wel- 
fare of  the  people.  Formerly  most  governments  tried  to 
elevate  the  people  in  this  way  by  suppressing  bad  books 
and  rewarding  the  authors  of  good  books.  Now  the 
patronage  of  literature  has  been  abandoned  by  all,  and 
the  censorship  of  the  press  is  retained  by  only  Turkey 
and  Russia.  Literature  nourishes  most  when  govern- 
ment lets  it  alone. 

"Manufactures  also  advance  the  material  and  moral 
welfare  of  the  people.  Once  every  government  thought 
it  a  duty  to  encourage  them  by  a  protective  tariff. 
They  flourish  most  in  Great  Britain,  where  there  is  free 
trade  with  all  the  world,  and  in  the  United  States, 
where  there  is  a  free  trade  reaching  from  ocean  to  ocean 
and  from  the  regions  where  winter  reigns  one-third  of 
the  year  to  those  where  frost  is  unknown." 

"I  believe  in  the  principle  of  protection, "  the  Repub- 
lican lawyer  said. 

"But  do  you  think  that  manufactures  would  flourish," 
the  minister  asked,  "if  every  state  and  territory  in  the 
Union  had  a  protective  tariff?" 

"No,  I  suppose  not,"  the  lawyer  admitted. 

"American  manufactures  prosper,"  Mr.  Jones  con- 
tinued, "because  there  is  free  trade  between  such  differ- 
ent sections  among  such  a  large  population. 

"These    instances   prove    that   there   are  great   and 


THE  DUTY  OF  CIVIL  GOVERNMENT.  65 

important  interests  in  which  the  government  can  best 
promote  the  material  and  moral  welfare  of  the  people  by 
not  meddling  with  them." 

44 The  preamble  of  our  Constitution,"  Mr.  Robinson 
said,  "states  that  one  end  of  our  national  government  is 
to  promote  the  general  welfare." 

"There  are  three  answers  to  this  argument,"  replied 
the  parson.  "One  is  that  the  best  way  for  government 
to  promote  the  general  welfare  is  to  do  justice — simply 
and  only  justice.  This  it  can  do;  it  cannot  safely  do 
more. 

"Another  answer  is  that  the  object  is  Utopian.  Who 
is  to  decide  what  will  promote  the  'general  welfare'? 
The  phrase  is  broad;  what  human  and  limited  under- 
standing can  grasp  it?  When  the  tariff  is  revised  every 
manufacturer  thinks  his  product  should  be  protected 
and  his  raw  material  should  be  admitted  free  of  duty. 
Every  one  thinks  first  of  his  own  welfare;  if  he  is  pros- 
perous he  thinks  the  nation  is  doing  well.  It  is  imprac- 
ticable. No  man  and  no  combination  of  men  can  work 
it. 

"The  third  answer  is  an  appeal  from  the  preamble  of 
the  Constitution  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
which  is,  on  this  point  at  least,  a  higher  authority.  It 
declares  that  governments  are  instituted  among  men  to 
secure  to  them  the  inalienable  rights  with  which  the 
Creator  has  endowed  them.  A  plainer  declaration  that 
governments  exist  merely  to  do  justice  could  not  be 
framed." 

"Life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness  are  the 
rights  mentioned,  I  think,"  said  Miss  Juliet  West. 
"The  first  duty  of  society  is  to  safeguard  the  lives  of  its 
members.  Therefore,  it  is  the  right  of  the  citizen  to  be 


66  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

guaranteed  a  subsistence.     At  least  I  have  read  some- 
thing like  that  in  my  favorite  author." 

"The  state  owes  every  man  a  living — a  very  comfort- 
able doctrine,"  laughed  Jack. 

"It  finds  its  realization  in  the  poorhouse,"  the  parson 
replied,  joining  the  laugh.  "Go  there,  Jack,  and  you 
will  be  supported.  The  hatred  of  that  institution  is  a 
sufficient  answer  to  the  idea  that  the  duty  of  securing 
life  involves  the  duty  of  supporting  life.  For  this 
hatred  and  dread  does  not  proceed  from  the  hardships  of 
a  pauper's  life,  which  are  less  than  those  of  a  sailor  in 
the  forecastle  of  a  merchantman,  or  a  soldier  in  a  cam- 
paign, but  from  the  feeling  of  independence  implanted 
by  the  Creator  in  the  breast  of  every  true  man." 

"But  this  feeling  of  independence,"  Mrs.  Smith 
remarked,  "is  not  wounded  by  sympathy  and  love." 

"Therefore  the  work  of  relieving  the  wants  of  the 
poor,"  the  parson  said,  "could  be  better  done,  done 
more  wisely  and  kindly,  by  the  church,  God's  organ  of 
mercy,  than  it  ever  has  been  or  can  be  done  by  the  state, 
God's  organ  of  justice — better  by  the  Gospel  than  by 
the  law." 

"What  is  meant  by  the  phrase  in  the  Declaration,  'to 
secure  life'?"  asked  Miss  Jenny. 

"Protecting  life  from  injustice,  from  unjust  physical 
force,  and  from  unjust  economic  or  material  conditions," 
the  minister  explained.  "Doing  justice  is  more  than 
passing  good  laws.  The  duty  of  government  is  not  done 
when  it  places  twelve  good  men  in  the  jury-box.  Gov- 
ernment is  more  than  a  jailor  to  imprison  criminals, 
more  than  a  court  to  decide  civil  disputes,  more  than  a 
soldier  to  defend  the  land  from  enemies,  more  than  a 
tax-gatherer  to  pay  itself  for  its  work.  It  is  not,  on  the 


THE  DUTY  OF  CIVIL  GOVERNMENT.  67 

other  hand,  a  priest  to  preach  religion,  nor  a  critic  to 
encourage  literature,  nor  a  manufacturer  to  make  goods, 
nor  a  merchant  to  sell  them.  It  is  God's  judge  to  do 
justice,  not  merely  to  prescribe  it — in  everything,  in 
industry,  commerce,  agriculture — everywhere.  Its  duty 
is  to  defend  life  from  all  unjust  assaults  from  every 
quarter,  and  not  at  all  to  sustain  it." 

"You  must  admit,  Mr.  Jones,"  Miss  Juliet  West  said, 
"that  our  civilization  does  not  secure  liberty  to  the 
masses  of  the  people.  They  are  forced  through  want  to 
buy  their  lives  by  the  surrender  of  their  liberties ;  they 
accept  servitude  to  the  possessing  class  and  become  serfs 
in  order  to  receive  the  means  of  subsistence.  Excuse 
me  for  mentioning  them.  Their  lives  are  so  inartistic, 
so  lacking  in  culture  and  aesthetics,  that  I  have  no  tolera- 
tion for  them." 

"What  is  liberty,  Miss  West?"  asked  the  parson. 

"The  right  to  live  in  personal  independence  of  one's 
fellows,  owing  only  those  common  social  obligations  rest- 
ing on  all  alike,"  was  the  reply.  "YTou  must  not  give 
me  credit  for  the  definition ;  it  impressed  me  when  I  was 
reading  my  favorite  author,  and  I  wrote  it  on  the  tablet 
of  my  recollection." 

"Is  that  liberty  a  blessing?"  again  inquired  the 
minister. 

"Alas,  it  is  not,"  Miss  West  sighed.  "I  am  very 
rich  and  much  envied;  for  I  have  poor  Julian's  fortune 
as  well  as  my  own.  But  I  have  no  one  to  live  for,  no 
one  for  whom  I  am  bound  to  work.  My  father  died 
when  we  were  young,  and  the  shock  of  Julian's  death 
killed  dear  mamma.  I  am  the  most  unfortunate  being 
alive." 

"An  obligation,  therefore,  to  work  for  others — servi- 


68  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

tilde,  if  you  wish  the  word — is  necessary  to  our  happi- 
ness," the  minister  said,  after  all  had  expressed  their 
sympathy  with  Miss  West  by  word  or  look.  "Freedom 
from  such  bondage  is  no  part  of  liberty.  I  should  define 
liberty  to  be  the  privilege  or  right  or  legal  opportunity 
of  doing  what  we  ought  to  do.  A  government  that 
secured  to  all  the  kind  of  liberty  mentioned  by  Miss 
West  would  be  the  worst  tyrant." 

At  this  moment  the  house-cat  passed  before  the  door 
and  the  lap-dog  jumped  from  Miss  West's  lap  and 
barked  fiercely.  His  mistress  caught  him  up  and  talked 
to  him.  "Oh,  you  poor,  darling  little  wootsy-tootsy, 
did  the  horrid  cat  want  to  hurt  you?"  When  he  was 
quieted,  Miss  West  repeated  the  attack:  "You  must 
admit,  at  least,  that  government  does  not  secure  to  the 
people  their  other  right — 'the  pursuit  of  happiness.' 
What  sordid,  paltry  lives  they  do  live.  I  have  been  told 
since  coming  to  Browntown  that  many  people  in  this 
neighborhood  actually  subsist  largely  at  this  season  of  the 
year  on  corn-bread  and  sorghum  molasses.  Phaugh,  it's 
disgusting." 

As  the  talk  was  becoming  quite  personal,  to  divert  it 
Mrs.  Jones  asked  Miss  West  what  she  called  her  dog. 

"I  call  him  Bellamy,"  she  said,  "after  my  favorite 
writer,  dear,  darling  Edward  Bellamy.  For  I  am  a 
great  socialist.  I  have  no  patience  with  Bryan  and  the 
Populists.  They  are  so  prosaic  and  practical ;  they  do 
actually  seem  to  sympathize  with  the  work-people,  whom 
I  cannot  bear;  they  are  really  vulgar.  But  Edward 
Bellamy  is  so  different;  you  can't  imagine — so  romantic 
and  imaginative;  his  books  are  better  than  any  novel." 


CHAPTER    IX. 

SOCIALISM. 

MRS.  SMITH  and  her  daughter  and  Mrs.  Jones  had 
never  seen  a  socialist,  and  they  gazed  at  Miss  West  with 
much  curiosity  and  a  little  fear.  At  last  Mrs.  Smith 
ventured  to  ask  her,  "What  is  socialism?" 

"Oh,"  she  said,  "it  is  the  most  sublime,  nicest  and 
sweetest  thing  you  ever  dreamed  of.  It  gives  to  every- 
body— man,  woman  and  child — a  salary  of  four  thousand 
dollars  a  year,  and  free  rides,  free  gas,  free  electric 
lights,  and  most  everything  else.  There  will  be  no 
housekeeping  to  be  done,  for  the  United  States  will  do 
the  cooking  and  furnish  new  clothes  and  carpets  when- 
ever they  are  soiled,  and  do  everything  else  that's  nice. 
It's  just  grand.  You  don't  have  to  go  to  church  on 
Sundays,  but  listen  to  sermons  by  telephone;  and  the 
preacher  don't  talk  about  sin  and  repentance  and  other 
impolite  topics,  but  about  the  nobility  of  human  nature. 
They  spread  an  awning  over  the  street  whenever  it  rains. 
Everybody  lives  in  a  palace.  Nobody  works  under 
twenty-one  or  over  forty-five,  and  between  times  they 
take  a  vacation  whenever  they  please.  It  is  magnificent, 
I  tell  you.  And  it's  better  for  the  women  than  for  the 
men.  They  are  to  be  stronger  and  more  muscular  than 
the  men,  and  do  the  courting,  and  dress  like  men,  and 
there  won't  be  any  standard  of  female  propriety.  And 
there  won't  be  any  sickness  or  stealing.  And  all  are 

69 


70  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

college  graduates.  And  everybody  is  to  be  happy  and 
do  just  as  they  please  all  the  time.  It  will  take  me  a 
month  to  tell  you  all  about  it.  Whenever  I  think  of  it 
the  symphonies  of  all  the  celestial  orbs  thrill  every  vein 
in  me." 

Bellamy  was  much  excited  by  the  enthusiasm  of  his 
mistress,  and  began  to  bark  first  in  her  lap,  and  after- 
wards, jumping  down,  he  ran  around  the  room  looking 
for  something  to  bark  at,  but  barking  all  the  time  till  he 
was  completely  exhausted.  Miss  West  at  length  grew 
anxious  about  him  and  asked  Mrs.  Jones  for  some  milk 
for  him,  and  the  two  ladies  and  Bellamy  went  for  the 
needed  refreshment. 

"What  in  the  world  was  that  woman  talking  about?" 
Mrs.  Smith  asked.  "Does  anybody  know?" 

"She  was  describing  the  results  which  Mr.  Bellamy — 
the  writer,  and  not  the  dog,"  Mr.  Jones  explained — 
"thinks  will  flow  from  socialism." 

"Can  you  tell  us  what  socialism  is?"  Mr.  Robinson 
asked. 

"Its  fundamental  idea  is  that  the  state,  the  govern- 
ment, should  own  all  the  capital  and  do  all  the  work, 
farming,  manufacturing,  etc. ;  in  other  words,  that  the 
main  end  of  government  is  to  make  us  all  rich.  It  is 
opposed'  to  our  principle  that  the  end  of  government  is 
to  do  justice.  While  we  are  entertained  by  such  dreams 
we  will  do  very  little  or  nothing  to  stop  the  injustice 
that  is  putting  the  wealth  of  the  many  into  the  pockets 
of  the  few  and  reducing  the  masses  to  penury." 

"I  thought  that  socialists  were  pickpockets  or 
burglars  or  something  of  that  kind,"  said  Miss  Jenny. 

"You  do  them  a  great  injustice,"  Mr.  Jones  replied. 
"Theirs  is  a  beautiful  dream.  It  will  be  realized  in  the 


SOCIALISM.  71 

New  Jerusalem.  In  thab  city  will  be  perfect  co-opera- 
tion in  the  supply  of  the  needs  of  all,  whatever  they  may 
be.  It  will  be  a  communistic  city,  too;  for  there  will 
be  no  rich  and  no  poor.  It  will  be  anarchistic  also;  for 
there  will  be  no  policemen  in  it.  But  neither  Boston 
nor  Browntown  is  the  New  Jerusalem;  neither  Tennes- 
see nor  Massachusetts  is  Eden.  Meanwhile  these  dreams 
of  socialism,  communism  and  anarchism  are  doing  great 
harm ;  for  those  who  should  be  working  for  justice  are 
building  air-castles  that  have  no  foundation  in  anything 
that  exists  now.  When  justice  is  introduced  it  will  be 
time  enough  to  think  of  these  airy  mansions  of  the 
fancy.  For  love  and  fraternity  can  only  rest  on  justice. 
But  when  we  have  justice,  in  my  opinion,  we  shall  need 
no  other  governmental  action.  Personal  love  and 
brotherhood,  the  Gospel,  the  church,  will  do  all  else 
that  is  needed  to  bring  in  the  millennium." 

Bellamy  and  the  ladies  now  returned,  and  when  they 
were  seated  Mr.  Jones  asked:  "Miss  West,  why  are  you  a 
socialist?" 

"I  grow  so  weary  of  my  social  duties,"  she  answered, 
"and  when  I  come  home  from  a  ball  or  a  dinner  all 
broken  down  it  rests  my  soul  to  read  a  chapter  from  one 
of  Mr.  Bellamy's  lovely  works.  I  always  keep  them  on 
the  shelf  with  my  prayer-book ;  but  in  Lent  I  read  a 
little  from  the  prayer-book  first.  Besides,  you  must  not 
think  me  a  perfect  heathen  or  heartless.  I  see  the 
misery  about  me,  and  charming  Mr.  Bellamy  offers  such 
an  exquisite  solution  for  all  these  troubles,  and  one  that 
does  not  involve  any  work  or  money  on  my  part ;  for 
indeed  I  have  no  time  left  when  my  social  obligations  are 
met.  But  surely,  Mr.  Jones,  you  are  not  so  unsesthetic 
as  to  object  to  socialism.  Let  me  convert  you." 


72  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

"I  will  listen  with  pleasure,"  was  his  response. 

"What  shall  I  use  first?"  mused  the  fair  socialist. 
"The  trusts?  You  see,  Mr.  Jones,  how  all  kinds  of 
business  are  consolidating.  After  awhile  all  business  of 
every  sort  will  be  in  one  huge  trust,  and  then  the  gov- 
ernment will  take  that,  and  everybody  will  be  happy." 

"If  trusts  are  the  flower  and  socialism  is  the  fruit," 
said  Mr.  Robinson,  "and  the  fruit  is  like  the  flower,  it 
must  be  horrible." 

"Keep  still,  cousin  Jack,"  Miss  Juliet  spoke,  "and 
don't  interfere  with  my  evangelistic  work." 

"Trusts  are  a  symptom  of  social  disease,  and  not  a 
sign  of  health,"  was  the  parson's  reply.  "Justice  will 
cure  the  disease,  and  its  symptoms  will  disappear." 

"The  post-office  shows  that  we  are  traveling  toward 
socialism,"  the  evangelist  said,  "and  that  it  is  a  good 
thing.  Here  is  a  large  business  transacted  by  the  people, 
and  well  done,  to  the  satisfaction  of  all.  As  the  govern- 
ment carries  the  letters,  just  so  it  can  carry  the  freight 
and  the  passengers,  and  raise  the  grain,  fatten  the  cattle 
and  manufacture  the  goods  to  load  the  freight  cars,  and 
do  it  well,  to  the  advantage  of  all  the  people." 

"The  post-office,"  Mr.  Jones  responded,  "is  a  natural 
monopoly ;  that  is,  it  is  a  business  which  by  its  very  nature 
is  a  monopoly.  One  company  can  carry  all  the  letters. 
If  we  allow  two  to  do  it  we  double  the  expense  without 
any  advantage.  It  is  different  with  other  business. 
Two  farmers  can  raise  twice  as  much  corn  as  one,  two 
factories  can  weave  twice  as  much  cloth ;  but  two  post- 
office  companies  can  carry  no  more  letters  than  one  can 
carry.  When  only  one  can  engage  in  a  business  it  seems 
just  that  it  should  be  reserved  to  the  whole  people 
and  not  given  to  any  individual  person  or  corporation. 


SOCIALISM.  73 

Nearly  all  the  natural  monopolies  are  carried  on  by  the 
government  in  one  country  or  another,  and  no  other  sort 
of  business  besides  natural  monopolies  is  conducted 
by  any  government.  Some  of  these  natural  monopolies, 
like  the  streets,  the  roads,  the  administration  of 
justice,  the  public  defense  by  an  army  and  navy,  have 
been  conducted  by  government  for  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  years,  without  approaching  any  closer  to 
socialism." 

"The  loss  by  competition "  began  Miss  West. 

1  'Would  be  counterbalanced  by  the  loss  connected  with 
consolidation,"  the  parson  ungallantly  interjected. 
"The  little  farm  is  best  tilled;  the  foot  of  the  owner 
enriches  the  ground;  and  his  eye  prevents  waste  in  the 
small  factory  and  store.  The  economies  of  production 
are  best  practiced  in  small  establishments.  We  have 
large  ones  now,  not  because  goods  can  be  better  or  more 
cheaply  made  in  them,  but  because  our  unjust  transpor- 
tation and  currency  give  them  superior  advantages. 
Besides,  the  small  farms  and  factories  have  moral 
advantages  over  the  large  ones,  in  the  independence, 
thrift,  foresight,  of  their  owners  and  hands.  There  is, 
indeed,  Miss  West,  no  comparison." 

"But  the  cruelty  of  competition!"  said  the  lady. 
"Yon  will  not  defend  that,  I  know.  To  make  men 
compete  for  business,  for  a  living,  for  a  life!  It  is  as 
barbarous  as  the  gladiatorial  shows  in  the  Eoman  amphi- 
theater, where  men  competed  for  life." 

"Competition  is  the  charm  of  nearly  all  the  games 
which  children  and  youth  play,"  Mr.  Jones  replied. 
"Without  it  they  would  be  dull.  It  is  one  charm  of 
courting;  the  wooer  has,  or  thinks  he  has,  rivals.  It 
adds  zest  to  the  more  sedate  amusements  of  adults.  It 


74  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

is  the  spur  to  diligence  in  our  schools  and  colleges.  The 
desire  to  excel  has  written  onr  best  books,  composed  the 
sweetest  music,  carved  the  finest  statues,  erected  the 
handsomest  buildings,  invented  our  machinery,  intro- 
duced improved  methods  into  our  agriculture  and  com- 
merce. The  proverb  says  truly  that  'competition  is  the 
life  of  trade. '  Without  it  life  would  be  insipid.  The 
inspired  apostle  uses  the  Grecian  games  to  incite  believ- 
ers to  greater  earnestness  in  the  Christian  race.  If, 
therefore,  there  is  any  cruelty  in  the  competition  of  the 
present  age,  it  must  be  because  the  rules  of  the  game  are 
unjust.  Justice  will  repeal  the  unjust  rules  and  alter 
the  unjust  conditions  of  our  competitions." 

The  double  millionairess  was  evidently  unaccustomed 
to  such  a  sturdy  opposition,  and  she  spoke  with  a  rising 
color  and  in  a  stronger  tone:  ''Socialism,  co-operation, 
altruism  is  the  very  essence  of  the  Gospel.  That  you,  a 
minister  of  the  Gospel,  should  object  to  it  amazes  me. " 

Mr.  Jones  was  a  little  nettled  by  the  personal  reproach, 
but  he  replied  calmly:  "Thank  you,  madam,  but  the 
Gospel  does  not  need  nor  ask  the  aid  of  the  civil  power 
to  introduce  or  disseminate  its  essence  throughout  the 
world.  All  it  wants,  all  the  church  asks  of  the  state,  is 
justice.  Establish  justice,  and  the  church  will  dis- 
seminate love,  mutual  help,  brotherly  affection,  through- 
out every  class  and  every  land. 

"Besides,  we  have  already  an  almost  perfect  co-opera- 
tion. Our  friend  Mr.  Smith  brings  to  Browntown  every 
year  more  shoes  and  dry  goods  than  he  and  his  family 
could  use  in  a  thousand  years.  Every  one  is  helping  in 
this  mutual  co-operation.  Already  all  are  working  for 
each,  and  each  for  all.  The  agents  of  this  co-operation 
are  paid  for  their  work,  and  they  should  be.  Perhaps 


SOCIALISM.  75 

some  get  more  than  their  work  deserves  and  others  not 
enough;  justice  will  remedy  this  evil.  But  socialism 
will  destroy  this  co-operation  and  forbid  the  practical 
brotherhood  that  now  exists.  Its  destruction  will  be  a 
blow  to  religion  and  constitutional  liberty,  and  will 
introduce  irreligion  and  despotism.  When  men  have  to 
depend  upon  the  government  for  food,  for  clothing,  for 
houses,  for  everything  they  need,  they  will  be  its  slaves ; 
and  when  they  stop  working  for  each  other  and  work 
only  for  the  state,  the  very  idea  of  human  brotherhood 
will  perish." 


CHAPTER    X. 

"HEBREW,  JUSTICE,  JUSTICE!" 

THE  three  boys  now  came  in  from  the  school  at  the 
foot  of  the  hill,  having  raced  from  the  mouth  of  the 
lane.  They  spoke  to  the  company,  and  Bellamy  barked 
at  them.  George  made  friends  with  him  and  sat  down 
on  the  edge  of  the  porch  with  Bellamy  in  his  arms.  Mr, 
Jones  told  Jake  and  Charley  to  get  their  Bibles. 

"We  have  agreed,  Miss  West,  to  try  all  political  ques- 
tions by  the  Bible,"  Mr.  Jones  remarked. 

"Indeed!"  she  replied.  "How  delightfully  primitive 
that  is!  But  does  such  a  method  accord  with  the 
intellectual  culture  and  moral  refinement  of  the  twen- 
tieth century?" 

"Cousin  Juliet,  we  are  all  believers  in  the  existence  of 
God,"  Mr.  Robinson  began. 

"Yes,  indeed,"  his  cousin  answered.  "Skepticism  is 
in  bad  taste,  I  think,  especially  in  a  lady." 

"And  his  will,"  the  lawyer  continued,  "must  be  the 
highest  law  of  politics  and  statesmanship.  The  clearest 
revelation  of  it  is  in  the  Bible." 

"Certainly,  all  that  is  true,"  the  Boston  lady  replied. 
"But  is  it  exactly  the  thing  to  use  the  Bible  in  that 
way?  Is  it  in  good  taste?  To  me  it  seems  a  species  of 
profanity  to  associate  the  Bible  with  politics.  It  feels 
almost  like  sacrilege." 

76 


"HEBREW,    JUSTICE,    JUSTICE!"  7? 

"If  the  Bible  was  given  tons  for  our  guidance,"  Mrs. 
Smith  remarked,  "we  should  be  guided  by  it  on  week 
days  as  well  as  on  Sundays,  in  civil  affairs  as  well  as  in 
church  matters." 

"Proceed  then,  please,"  Miss  West  said.  "This  is  a 
new  sensation  to  me ;  and  to  one  who  has  ennui  as  much 
as  I  have  new  experiences  are  charming." 

"The  first  proof  is  the  silence  of  the  Scriptures," 
began  the  preacher.  "It  devotes  hundreds  of  pages  to 
the  science  of  government,  but  nowhere  except  in  the 
speech  of  the  heathen  orator  Tertullus  do  I  find  any 
intimation  that  it  is  the  duty  of  government  to  make  the 
people  rich  or  to  do  anything  but  justice.  The  idea  is, 
in  fact,  heathenish  and  non-scriptural. 

"My  second  proof  is  the  name  used  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
to  describe  civil  rulers.  They  are  called  'judges.'  The 
duty,  and  the  only  duty,  of  judges,  both  in  criminal  and 
civil  cases,  is  to  do  justice,  to  establish  righteousness. 

"Thirdly  come  the  proof  texts.  They  are  almost 
innumerable.  Perhaps  six  will  not  be  too  many  for 
your  patience.  Jake,  please  read  Leviticus  19 : 15." 

He  read : 

"Ye  shall  do  no  unrighteousness  in  judgment;  thou 
shalt  not  respect  the  person  of  the  poor  nor  honor  the 
person  of  the  mighty ;  but  in  righteousness  shalt  thou 
judge  thy  neighbor." 

"Judge  means  govern,"  the  minister  explained,  "and 
judgment  government.  Laws  are  not  to  be  passed  for 
the  advantage  of  any  class;  not  for  the  poor,  as  the 
Populists  proposed  in  their  sub-treasury  scheme,  nor  for 
the  rich,  as  has  been  the  common  custom  of  our  national 
and  state  legislatures.  The  duty  of  governing  right- 


78  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

eously  is  the  personal  duty  of  every  citizen ;  the  personal 
pronoun  'thou'  is  used  twice." 

"What  can  you  mean  by  calling  it  a  personal  duty?" 
Miss  West  asked. 

"Every  citizen  is  to  use  his  or  her  time,  influence  and 
money  to  secure  to  all  and  to  every  one  the  rights  with 
which  the  Creator  has  endowed  them,"  was  the  explana- 
tion. "Charley,  read  Deuteronomy  16:18-20;  and, 
Jake,  II  Samuel  23:  3." 

They  read : 

"Judges  and  officers  shalt  thou  make  thee  in  all  thy 
gates,  which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee,  throughout 
thy  tribes ;  and  they  shall  judge  the  people  with  just 
judgment.  Thou  shalt  not  wrest  judgment;  thou  shalt 
not  respect  persons,  neither  take  a  gift:  for  a  gift  doth 
blind  the  eyes  of  the  wise,  and  pervert  the  words  of  the 
righteous.  That  which  is  altogether  just  ["Hebrew, 
justice,  justice,"  whispered  Mr.  Jones]  shalt  thou  follow, 
that  thou  mayest  live  and  inherit  the  land  which  the 
Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee." 

"The  God  of  Israel  said,  the  Rock  of  Israel  spake 
to  me,  He  that  ruleth  over  men  must  be  just,  ruling  in 
the  fear  of  God." 

''Does  not  the  last  text  go  to  show,"  said  Mr.  Eobin- 
son,  "that  God  gives  some  directions  about  ruling?  No 
one  can  rule  in  the  fear  of  God  unless  he  gives  some 
commands  about  it." 

"Many  other  passages  are  obscure  if  we  deny  that  the 
Bible  teaches  sociology,"  the  minister  replied.  "Jake, 
please  read  Psalm  82:  3,  and,  Charley,  Isaiah  1:  16-17." 

"Defend  the  poor  and  fatherless:  do  justice  to  the 
afflicted  and  needy." 


"HEBREW,   JUSTICE,   JUSTICE!"  79 

"Cease  to  do  evil;  learn  to  do  well;  seek  judgment, 
relieve  the  oppressed,  judge  the  fatherless,  plead  for  the 
widow." 

"That's  a  socialist  text,"  said  Miss  West,  triumph- 
antly. "We  are  told  to  'relieve  the  oppressed' — what 
socialism  proposes  to  do." 

"The  margin  is,  'Righten  the  oppressed;'  the  true 
relief  for  the  oppressed  is  righteousness  or  justice,"  the 
minister  replied.  "In  general  it  is  true  that  justice  is 
the  truest  charity  to  the  poor ;  and  it  is  the  only  charity 
that  the  state  government  can  give  them  without 
pauperizing  them.  I  have  one  more  proof  text.  Jake, 
please  read  Jeremiah  22:  3-4." 

"Thus  saith  the  Lord;  Execute  ye  judgment  and 
righteousness  and  deliver  the  spoiled  out  of  the  hand  of 
the  oppressor :  and  do  no  wrong,  do  no  violence  to  the 
stranger,  the  fatherless  nor  the  widow,  neither  shed 
innocent  blood  in  this  place.  For  if  you  do  this  thing 
indeed,  then  shall  there  enter  in  by  the  gates  of  this 
house  kings  sitting  upon  the  throne  of  David." 

"National  independence  and  prosperity  are  the  results 
of  public  justice,"  the  minister  commented.  "It  was 
not  the  Assyrians  nor  the  Babylonians  that  destroyed 
the  kingdoms  of  Israel  and  Judah,  but  public  injustice. 
What  overturned  the  throne  of  David  can  certainly 
overthrow  the  government  established  by  Washington. 

"My  fourth  proof  is  the  character  of  Christ's  reign  on 
earth.  If  he  will  do  only  justice,  although  possessed  of 
infinite  riches,  wisdom  and  power,  we  may  be  sure  that 
merely  human  rulers  should  not  try  to  do  more." 

"Are  not  the  prophecies  about  his  reign  very 
obscure?"  Mrs.  Smith  asked. 

"They  are,"  was  the  reply.     "The  time  and  manner 


SO  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

of  their  fulfillment  are  much  disputed.  But  the  descrip- 
tions of  the  nature  of  Christ's  reign  are  very  plain.  We 
will  listen  to  only  three.  Charley,  read,  please,  Psalm 

72:2." 

"He  shall  judge  thy  people  with  righteousness  and  thy 
poor  with  judgment." 

uln  the  succeeding  verses  of  this  psalm  the  effects  of 
public  justice  are  very  beautifully  and  eloquently 
described,"  the  preacher  added.  "Jake,  read  Isaiah 
11:  2,  and,  Charley,  Jeremiah  23:  5." 

"With  righteousness  shall  he  judge  the  poor,  and 
reprove  with  equity  for  the  meek  of  the  earth." 

"Behold,  the  days  come,  saith  the  Lord,  that  I  will 
raise  unto  David  a  righteous  branch,  and  a  king  shall 
reign  and  prosper  and  shall  execute  judgment  and  jus- 
tice in  the  earth." 


"If  the  Son  of  God,  when  he  comes,"  said 
Jenny,  in  a  low  and  reverent  tone,  "will  only  try  to  do 
justice  in  civil  affairs,  no  human  ruler  should  try  to  do 
more." 

"It  seems  to  me,"  Mrs.  Smith  said,  "that  the  con- 
science of  the  human  race  confirms  the  teachings  of 
Scripture.  Everywhere  and  always  it  has  affirmed  that 
government,  the  laws,  should  be  just." 

"The  whole  theory  and  practice  of  law  is  based  on  the 
assumption  that  the  aim  of  legislation  is  justice,"  the 
lawyer  added.  "On  any  other  hypothesis  the  whole 
science  would  be  a  perfect  chaos  and  the  trial  of  cases 
would  be  a  farce.  Blackstone  arranges  what  he  says 
about  the  common  law  under  the  heads  of  'Rights'  and 
'Wrongs.'" 

"Reason  also  confirms  the  truth,"  the  minister  added. 


"HEBREW,    JUSTICE,   JUSTICE!'*  81 

"Unless  government  does  justice  there  will  be  general 
confusion  and  violence. ' ' 

Charley  asked  a  question:  "Has  government  any 
money  to  give  away?" 

"No,  it  creates  nothing,"  his  father  explained.  "It 
has  only  the  money  it  takes  from  the  people.  It  can 
give  to  some  only  by  taking  from  others,  can  enrich 
some  only  by  robbing  others,  can  give  some  more  than  jus- 
tice only  by  giving  others  less  than  justice.  History  also 
confirms  the  principle.  Whenever  government  has  tried 
to  do  more  than  justice,  to  encourage  the  fine  arts,  to 
patronize  literature,  to  protect  manufactures  or  agricul- 
ture, to  support  religion,  it  has  generally  done  more 
harm  than  good." 

At  this  moment  Bellamy  saw  Polly,  the  old  and  dig- 
nified parrot,  slowly  waddling  toward  him  on  the  ground, 
and  he  burst  from  George's  arms  and  ran  howling  to  his 
mistress.  After  quieting  him  she  said  to  Mr.  Jones: 
"You  cannot  possibly  form  any  conception  of  the  enter- 
tainment and  instruction  that  I  have  derived  from  your 
luminous  conversation.  You  will  extend  to  me  your 
pardon  if  I  cannot  immediately  embrace  the  superfluity 
of  your  philosophy.  But  indeed  I  think  I  have  more 
reverence  for  the  Bible.  My  veneration  for  the  Holy 
Book  is  so  great  that  I  never  read  it  except  on  the  Sun- 
days in  Lent  and  on  Good  Friday." 

Mr.  Jones  was  overwhelmed  with  the  compliment. 
His  wife  invited  their  guests  to  stay  to  tea,  but  Miss 
West  pleaded  an  engagement,  and  they  drove  off  just  as 
the  sun  was  setting  on  the  northern  side  of  Crockett's 
Ridge. 

As  tho  surrey  entered  the  lane  Miss  West  said  to  Mrs. 
Smith:  "I  owe  you-ten  million  thanks  for  the  delicious 


82  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

interview  which  has  refreshed  my  sensibilities  this 
heavenly  afternoon.  Considering  their  rank  in  life  and 
the  wretched  hovel  which  they  inhabit,  the  affability  and 
intellectuality  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jones  are  really  quite 
extremely  extraordinary." 

Jack  Robinson,  Esq.,  and  Miss  Jenny  Smith,  in  the 
front  seat,  exchanged  glances.  Perhaps  they  were 
studying  each  other. 


OHAPTEE    XI. 

"LIKE  PEOPLE,  LIKE  PRIEST." 

THE  next  day,  November  15,  1897,  Mr.  Jones  drove 
to  Browntown  to  buy  some  corn-meal  and  sorghum 
molasses.  In  Mr.  Smith's  store  were  General  Sylvester, 
formerly  a  member  of  Congress  from  the  Thirty-third 
District  of  Tennessee,  and  Bob  Dodson,  the  carpenter. 
When  the  trading  was  done,  the  General  said  to  Mr. 
Jones :  "I  have  heard  from  my  friends  Mr.  Smith  and  Dr. 
Wesley  about  your  political  or  Biblical  discussion.  I 
have  been  interested  all  my  life  in  political  and  Biblical 
questions ;  and  if  you  have  a  little  leisure  I  would  be 
glad  to  gain  any  information  you  can  give  me." 

Mr.  Jones  said  he  was  at  leisure,  and  Mr.  Smith 
invited  them  to  walk  into  his  office  and  sent  across  the 
street  for  Mr.  John  Eobinson.  While  they  were  wait- 
ing for  him  the  General  remarked:  "What  a  fine  man 
Dr.  Wesley  is !  One  thing  I  admire  about  him  is  that 
he  never  talks  shop,  never  mentions  sacred  things  except 
in  a  sacred  place.  He  took  dinner  with  me  yesterday, 
and  you  never  would  have  guessed  that  he  was  a  clergy- 
man except  by  his  saying  grace  at  the  table.  I  believe 
in  being  friends  with  the  clergy;  it  helps  a  public  man." 

As  Mr.  Robinson  had  few  clients,  he  was  able  to  leave 
his  office  and  come  in.  When  they  were  all  seated,  the 
General  in  the  only  chair,  the  merchant  on  the  high 
stool  at  the  desk,  the  preacher  and  the  lawyer  on  soap 

83 


84  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

boxes  turned  on  end,  and  the  carpenter  on  the  edge  of 
the  coal  box,  Mr.  Jones  asked  General  Sylvester  whether 
there  was  any  particular  subject  he  wished  to  discuss. 
On  his  replying  in  the  negative,  Mr.  Robinson  suggested 
that  the  subject  be  continued  where  it  was  interrupted 
the  day  before,  and  Mr.  Jones,  after  a  moment's 
thought,  announced: 

"Principle  8. — Governments  derive  their  authority, 
and  voters  and  officers  their  right  to  influence  and  con- 
trol political  action,  from  God." 

"An  admirable  statement,"  the  ex- Congressman  said, 
"of  a  sound  and  orthodox  theological  doctrine,  which 
does  you  credit,  Brother  Jones.  It  has  been  very  use- 
ful, no  doubt,  in  monarchial  countries,  in  restraining 
arbitrary  power,  but  it  does  not  apply  to  our  institu- 
tions. Ours  is  a  government  *of  the  people,  by  the 
people,  for  the  people.'  " 

"But,  General,"  asked  Bob  Dodson,  "if  it  is  true  and 
was  useful  once,  why  isn't  it  true  and  useful  now?" 

"It  is  true  theoretically,  Robert,"  said  the  General, 
in  a  paternal  tone.  "Some  truths  are  very  important  in 
one  age  and  comparatively  useless  in  another." 

"Would  you  give  an  example,  General?"  the  carpenter 
asked  again. 

The  statesman  was  silent,  meditating.  The  laws  of 
nature,  he  thought,  can  never  be  safely  disregarded,  nor 
the  truths  of  ethics  or  religion ;  and  he  could  not  think 
of  any  truth  of  sociology  that  was  useless.  He  said  at 
last:  "None  occurs  to  me  just  now,  Robert." 

"What  does  the  principle  mean,  anyhow,  General?" 
again  asked  Bob  Dodson. 

"It  means  this,  Robert,"  was  the  reply.     "No  one 


"LIKE  PEOPLE,   LIKE  PRIEST."  85 

has  the  right  to  take  property  away  from  its  owner  with- 
out his  consent — that  is,  to  levy  taxes — except  God, 
from  whom  all  property  rights  flow,  or  man,  upon  whom 
God  has  conferred  the  authority  to  levy  taxes.  Like- 
wise, no  one  has  a  right  to  deprive  another  of  his  liberty 
or  take  his  life,  except  the  agents  of  God  who  have 
received  the  power  to  do  this  from  God." 

1  'You  repudiate,  then,  the  social  contract  theory  of 
government?"  the  young  lawyer  inquired. 

"Certainly  I  do,"  was  General  Sylvester's  answer. 
"The  theory  supposes  that  men  existed  previous  to 
government;  but  government  of  some  kind  is  coeval 
with  society.  It  supposes  that  men  could  exist  outside 
of  society.  The  first  baby  that  tried  it  would  not  live 
long  enough  to  relate  his  experience.  No  man  has  any 
right  to  form  such  a  contract,  to  give  to  others  the  con- 
trol of  his  life,  his  liberty,  or  his  property ;  it  would  be 
self-murder  or  self -robbery.  The  theory  is  repudiated 
by  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  is,  I  think, 
generally  abandoned.  It  was  invented  to  defend  consti- 
tutional liberty,  hut  it  really  might  be  used  to  destroy  it ; 
for  according  to  it  there  is  no  power,  no  authority,  above 
the  people.  If  they  contracted  together  to  reward 
burglars  and  punish  honest  people,  by  this  theory  they 
would  have  the  right  to  do  it." 

"What  is  the  difference,  General,'  Boh  Dodson  asked, 
"between  this  theory  and  a  government  'of  the  people, 
by  the  people,  and  for  the  people'?" 

"I  do  not  see  much,"  the  merchant  said.  "In  both 
the  people  have  the  right  to  imprison  the  virtuous  for 
doing  right." 

"Our  government,  Eobert,  is  the  best  and  freest  the 
sun  ever  shone  upon,"  General  Sylvester  replied. 


86  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

"Then  I  suppose  it  needs  no  improvement,"  Bob 
Dodson  remarked. 

"Bobert,  if  you  had  seen  one  hundredth  part  of  the 
corruption  that  I  have  seen,  in  municipal  affairs,  in 
county  matters,  at  the  state  and  national  capitals,  you 
would  never  say  that.  The  politicians,  as  a  rule,  are 
corrupt." 

"Which  are  the  best  men,  General,  the  politicians  or 
the  preachers?"  the  Rev.  Jacob  Jones  asked. 

"There  is  no  comparison,"  was  the  General's  reply. 
"The  preachers  like  fine  dinners  and  large  salaries; 
but  that  is  natural — all  like  good  eating  and  good  wages. 
The  ministers  are  learned,  know  thoroughly  the  science 
of  their  calling,  are  earnest  in  it,  are  self-denying  in  per- 
forming its  duties.  In  all  these  points  they  are  in 
marked  contrast  to  the  politicians." 

"Why  is  that?"  the  minister  asked.  "They  are  taken 
from  the  same  families  and  have  the  same  family  train- 
ing. They  are  educated  in  the  same  schools  and  colleges 
and  are  subject  to  the  same  social  influences.  Why  are 
they  so  different?" 

"Frankly,  I  don't  know,"  the  General  replied. 

"Perhaps  the  old  Hebrew  proverb  Jack  quoted  the 
other  night  may  throw  some  light  upon  it,"  Mr.  Smith 
observed.  "  'Like  people,  like  priest.'  The  priests 
are  what  the  people  want  them  to  be,  what  the  people 
make  them.  So  we  might  say,  'Like  voters,  like  poli- 
ticians.' The  politicians  are  corrupt  because  the  voters 
are." 

"The  explanation  has  force,"  the  minister  said,  "but 
it  only  throws  the  difficulty  one  step  further  back. 
Why  do  the  people  make  their  preachers  so  good  and 
their  politicians  so  bad?  \\  \\\  aie.our  chinches  so  pure 


"LIKE  PEOPLE,   LIKE  PRIEST."  87 

and  our  parties  so  corrupt?  The  same  people  govern 
both." 

"Parson,  you're  hitting  the  nail  on  the  head  now," 
the  carpenter  said. 

After  exchanging  glances,  the  politician  remarked, 
"We  must  admit  we  don't  know." 

"Why  don't  the  preachers  talk  like  the  stump 
orators?"  the  minister  inquired.  "Why  don't  the 
Baptists  exhort  the  people  to  be  immersed  to  bring  in 
good  times?  Why  don't  the  Presbyterians  hire  brass 
bands  and  get  up  torch-light  processions  to  prove  to  the 
people  that  they  should  have  their  babies  baptized  and 
believe  in  the  doctrine  of  election?  Why  don't  the 
Methodists  wave  the  bloody  shirt  and  twist  the  tail  of 
the  British  lion  to  bring  sinners  to  the  anxious  seat? 
Why  don't  the  Episcopalians  raise  a  large  sum  of  money 
and  lay  big  wagers  that  -they  will  have  more  new  members 
next  year  than  the  Congregationalists?  Why  don't  the 
Lutherans  bribe  men  to  join  their  church?" 

"If  any  preacher  did  any  of  those  things  he  would  be 
sent  to  the  lunatic  asylum,"  Mr.  Smith  said. 

"He  would  be  very  wicked,  indeed,  as  well  as  insane," 
General  Sylvester  added. 

"Do  we  not,"  the  preacher  asked,  "hear  arguments 
and  see  acts  just  as  silly  and  immoral  in  every  presi- 
dential election?" 

"I  do  not  understand  the  question,"  said  General 
Sylvester. 

"You're  driving  the  nail  home,"  exclaimed  Bob 
Dodson,  "and  you'll  clinch  it  directly. " 

"The  Republicans  argue  that  because  the  Southerners 
rebelled,  therefore  there  should  be  a  protective  tariff," 
the  preacher  explained.  "The  Democrats  say  that 


88  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

because  the  whites  were  excluded  from  the  polls  after 
the  war,  therefore  the  tariff  should  be  revised.  The 
Republicans  oppose  the  free  coinage  of  silver  because  it 
would  reduce  the  purchasing  power  of  wages,  and  the 
Democrats  favor  it  because  it  will  raise  prices  and  bring 
better  times.  Brass  bands  and  bribes  are  used  to  prove 
that  free  coinage  is  right  and  that  it  is  wrong.  If  a 
preacher  should  use  similar  methods  you  would  say  that 
he  was  crazy  or  profane.  What  makes  the  difference?" 

After  a  pause  the  lawyer  said:  "You  will  have  to  tell 
us,  Parson." 

"It  is  because  the  people  think  that  God  is  the  head 
of  the  church,  and  they  do  not  regard  God  as  the  head 
of  the  nation,"  the  minister  explained.  "Therefore 
whoever  uses  a  lying  argument  or  an  unworthy  expedient 
for  the  church  they  think  commits  a  sin  against  God, 
and  they  look  upon  him  as  either  insane  or  blasphemous. 
But  as  they  do  not  think  that  God  is  the  head  of  the 
state  they  tolerate,  and  even  applaud  as  smart,  the 
sophistical  logic  and  the  corrupt  methods  of  political 
leaders." 

"And  does  this  explain  the  difference  between  the 
preachers  and  politicians?"  Bob  Dodson  asked. 

"Certainly,"  was  the  reply.  "The  clergy  look  upon 
the  ministry  as  the  service  of  God.  Therefore  they 
prepare  themselves  for  it  and  perform  its  duties  in  the 
fear  of  God.  When  the  politicians  regard  their  work  as 
a  ministry  of  God,  they  will  be  as  pure  and  as  conse- 
crated as  the  preachers." 

"How  can  they  take  such  a  view  of  it?"  the  ex-Con- 
gressman asked  very  quietly. 

"It  is  a  holier  thing  to  make  and  execute  the  law? 
than  to  preach  the  Gospel,"  the  minister  replied. 


"LIKE  PEOPLE,   LIKE  PRIEST."  89 

"Civil  officers  interpret  God's  justice  to  men.  They  are 
God's  judges  to  declare  what  is  right  and  wrong. 
They  are  armed  with  God's  power,  the  power  to  take 
away  life  and  liberty  and  property,  in  order  to  enforce 
their  decrees.  The  clergy  are  merely  messengers  to  offer 
mercy.  To  use  an  illustration  from  the  old  Jewish 
tabernacle,  the  civil  magistrates  stand  in  the  holy  of 
holies  to  interpret  the  law  within  the  ark;  but  the 
preachers  are  merely  Levites  standing  at  the  door  of  the 
outer  court  to  sing  psalms  without." 

"Certainly  not,"  General  Sylvester  said.  "It  is  the 
very  essence  of  a  church  that  it  is  of  God  and  has 
a  message  from  him  to  deliver." 

"Remember  now,"  continued  the  parson,  "that  it  is 
the  essence  of  civil  government  to  do  justice,  and  that 
the  standard  of  justice  is  God's  will;  that  God  is  the 
head  of  the  state  in  a  higher  sense  than  of  the  church, 
because  he  has  given  to  the  state  powers  which  he  has 
denied  to  the  church.  What  shall  we  say,  then,  of  a 
democracy  that  claims  to  be  4of  the  people,  by  the  people, 
and  for  the  people'?" 

"You  must  not  be  too  hard  on  the  Gene'ral,  Parson," 
said  Bob  Dodson. 

"He  can't  be,  Robert,"  replied  the  politician.  "But 
how  would  you  put  it?" 

The  preacher  replied:  "I  don't  want  to  be  hard  on 
any  one,  for  I  have  entertained  these  erroneous  notions 
myself,  and  if  I  judged  others  I  would  condemn  myself. 
I  would  say  that  government  is  'of  God,  by  the  people, 
and  for  God.'" 

'  *  That  would  be  a  theocracy, ' '  the  General  answered. 

"Better  a  theocracy  than  a  demonocracy  or  a  plutoc- 
racy," said  Bob  Dodson. 


90  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

"No  more  than  the  churches,"  the  parson  responded. 
"They  are  founded  on  the  authority  of  God  and  exist  for 
his  glory,  but  they  are  governed  by  the  people.  No,  ifc 
would  be  a  true  democracy,  the  government  of  a  people 
who  fear  God  and  know  that  his  glory  is  the  virtue  and 
happiness  of  the  people." 

The  General  rose  to  go,  saying:  "You  have  given  me 
much  to  think  about." 

"That  is  my  aim,  to  make  people  think,"  the  minister 
replied.  "But  stay  just  a  little  longer,  for  it  is  my 
custom  to  try  everything  by  the  Bible." 

"That  is  hardly  necessary,"  the  ex- Congressman  said. 
"The  fact  that  no  government  can  exist  for  a  day 
without  exercising  powers  that  can  only  come  from  God 
shows  where  government  gets  its  authority." 

"The  Declaration  of  Independence,"  Bob  Dodson 
added,  "seems  to  assert  the  principle  when  it  says  that 
'governments  are  instituted,'  not  by  men,  but  'among 
men.'  " 

"Most  states  outside  of  our  country  that  have  written 
constitutions  admit  the  principle  in  their  preambles," 
the  lawyer  stated. 

"Are  not  the  inscriptions  on  the  coins  of  Christian 
monarchies  an  acknowledgment  of  it?"  the  merchant 
asked. 

Meanwhile  the  minister  had  inquired  for  the  Bible ; 
there  was  none,  and  Mr.  Smith  offered  to  send  out  and 
borrow  one.  But  the  minister  said  that  he  would  give 
the  proofs  from  memory. 

"The  first  proof  is  in  the  words  of  Christ  to  Pilate: 
'Thou  couldst  have  no  power  over  me  at  all  except  it 
were  given  thee  from  above.'  The  argument  is  from 
the  greater  to  the  less.  If  such  a  bad  governor  as 


"LIKE  PEOPLE,    LIKE  PRIEST."  91 

Pilate  had  authority  from  God,  much  more  have  good 
rulers." 

"But  could  Pilate  be  called  a  minister  of  God?"  Mr. 
Smith  asked. 

"I  believe  so.  He  was  much  better  than  none,"  Bob 
Dodson  answered. 

"The  second  proof  is  in  Eomans,  thirteenth  chapter," 
continued  the  parson.  "You  all  remember  the  passage: 
'The  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God.'  The  subject 
is  discussed  for  half  the  chapter. 

"The  third  proof  is  the  fact  that  God  appointed 
Moses,  Samuel,  Saul,  David  and  others  to  be  civil 
rulers." 

At  this  instant  the  dinner  bell  at  the  hotel  rang,  and 
the  party  broke  up,  the  General  thanking  the  minister' 
very  politely.  Mr.  Robinson  told  Mr.  Jones  as  they 
walked  to  the  door  that  his  cousin,  Miss  Juliet,  wished 
to  see  him  again  before  she  left  for  Florida,  and  they 
agreed  to  call  on  her  the  next  day. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

THE    PEOPLE    ARE    THE    JUDGES. 

ON  THURSDAY  afternoon,  November  16,  1897,  the 
Rev.  Jacob  Jones  and  John  Robinson,  Esq.,  went  to  call 
upon  Miss  Juliet  West  at  the  Centre-of -the- World  Hotel. 
They  were  ushered  into  her  reception  parlor,  which  was 
a  bedroom  from  which  the  bedstead  had  been  removed, 
and  were  cordially  received  by  Miss  West.  She  apologized 
for  the  appearance  of  the  room,  saying:  "This  was  the 
best  suite  of  apartments  that  could  be  obtained  at  this 
barbarian  caravansary.  I  am  profoundly  delighted  by 
your  lucubrious  conversational  abilities,  Mr.  Jones,  and 
I  hope  that  you  will  continue  the  process  of  my 
enlightenment. " 

Mr.  Jones  said  he  was  glad  to  entertain  her  and 
announced  his  ninth  maxim  as  follows : 

"Principle,  9. — The  people  are  the  judges  appointed 
ly  God  to  decide  what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong  in 
political  affairs.  Vox  populi,  vox  Dei." 

"The  Latin  does  not  mean  that  the  people  are  as  good, 
as  wise  or  as  infallible  as  God,  but  that  the  people  are 
the  supreme  judge  appointed  by  God  to  decide  between 
right  and  wrong  in  political  matters.  It  is  the  right  of 
the  people  to  rule." 

"That  is  just  splendid,"  said  Miss  Juliet.  "I  am 
such  a  strong  believer  in  the  rights  of  the  people — that 
is,  of  the  better  and  wealthier  class.  As  for  the  vulgar 

92 


ffiE  PEOPLE  ARE  THE  JUDGES.  93 

horde,  they  have,  like  the  irrational  creation,  no  thoughts 
above  their  coarse  provender." 

"You  know  my  method,"  began  Mr.  Jones. 

"And  your  elaborations  are  so  delightsomely  peculiar," 
added  Miss  West. 

"My  first  proof  of  the  principle,"  Mr.  Jones  con- 
tinued, "is  the  case  of  Moses.  He  was  probably  the 
heir  of  the  Egyptian  throne,  learned  in  all  the  wisdom 
of  Egypt,  cultured  and  refined." 

"A  most  admirable  character,"  Miss  West  interjected. 

"But  his  sympathies  were  with  the  Hebrew  bond- 
servants. He  thought,  and  thought  rightly,  as  the 
events  showed,  that  he  was  the  one  to  deliver  them  from 
their  oppression.  It  never  occurred  to  him,  as  he  had 
been  educated  in  a  royal  palace,  that  the  consent  of  the 
people  was  needful  before  he  could  righteously  be  their 
leader  and  redeemer.  He  tried  to  deliver  them,  but 
they  met  him  with  the  question:  'Who  made  thee  a 
prince  and  a  ruler  over  us?'  ' 

"The  vulgar  wretches,"  muttered  Miss  Juliet. 

"Having  alienated  both  the  Egyptians  and  the 
Hebrews,  he  had  to  flee.  In  his  forty  years'  retirement 
his  views  changed ;  and  when  the  Lord  wished  to  send 
him  to  deliver  the  Hebrews  his  chief  objection  was  that 
they  would  not  accept  him  as  their  ruler." 

"Surely,"  the  lawyer  spoke,  "if  God  himself  appointed 
him  to  do  the  work,  the  consent  of  the  people  was  not 
necessary." 

"The  first  thing  that  God  commanded  him  to  do  for 
the  deliverance  of  Israel,"  the  preacher  said,  "was  to 
gather  the  elders  of  the  people  together  and  obtain  their 
consent  to  his  leadership. 

"In  the   most   impressive  way  possible,  by  his  own 


94  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

example,  the  Lord  has  taught  us  that  the  consent  and 
approval  of  the  people  are  necessary  to  any  public  action, 
however  wise  and  good  it  may  be  in  itself.  There  could 
be  nothing  better  for  Israel  than  its  deliverance  from 
bondage;  and  Moses  was  the  man  best  qualified  to  do 
it,  both  by  his  life  in  Egypt  and  his  life  in  the  desert. 
But  it  was  to  be  done,  he  was  to  do  it,  only  by  the 
approval  of  the  people  expressed  through  their  elders. 

"My  second  instance  is  the  establishment  of  the  mon- 
archy in  the  time  of  Samuel.  The  people  grew  tired  of 
the  republican  rule  described  in  the  book  of  Judges,  in 
which  the  men  best  able  to  repel  their  numerous  foes 
were  made  their  rulers  or  judges." 

The  lawyer  asked:   "Was  Israel  a  republic?" 

"The  history  is  very  much  condensed,"  the  minister 
answered;  "several  hundred  years  in  about  twenty-five 
pages  of  our  English  Bible;  but  the  account  of  the  be- 
ginning of  Jephthah's  administration  makes  it  plain.  The 
people  wanted  a  king — not  a  constitutional  monarchy, 
but  an  oriental  despotism.  The  pretext  was  trifling — 
the  corruption  of  some  deputies  who  could  have  been 
removed.  Tho  change  was  radical — a  revolution  in  the 
constitution  of  the  nation.  It  was  the  height  of  folly." 

"Could  not  Samuel  prevent  the  people  from  carrying 
out  their  folly?"  Miss  West  said.  "If  he  could  not,  he 
was  not  as  smart  as  some  of  our  statesmen.  The  people 
rage  against  trusts ;  but,  thanks  to  our  public  men,  they 
cannot  interfere  with  business.  He  should  have  done  it 
if  he  could.  I  am  a  member  of  the  Daughters  of  the 
Revolution  and  Colonial  Dames  and  am  opposed  to 
monarchies." 

"I  suppose  that  he  was  the  equal  in  political  ability  of 
any  man  now  living,"  the  preacher  responded.  "His 


THE  PEOPLE  ARE  THE  JUDGES.  95 

long  and  successful  administration  proves  it.  He  had 
the  supreme  authority;  and  he  had  the  support,  we  may 
infer  from  the  history,  of  the  better  men  of  the  nation, 
and  also  of  the  worst.  So  that  there  is  little  doubt  that 
he  could  have  defeated  the  wish  of  the  great  majority  of 
the  nation,  or  at  least  delayed  its  execution." 

4 'Why,  then,  did  he  not  prevent  it?"  Miss' West  asked 
again.  "I  cannot  understand  his  conduct.  It  is  the 
duty  of  the  more  intelligent  and  propertied  classes  to 
restrain  the  follies  of  the  people,  such  as  the  free  silver 
craze  and  Bryanism.  It  seems  to  me  that  he  failed  in 
his  duty  to  his  country.  Why  did  he  permit  it?" 

"Because  God  himself  said  to  him,  'Hearken  unto  the 
voice  of  the  people  in  all  that  they  say  unto  thee. '  ' 

"Indeed,  must  the  people  be  obeyed  when  they  are  set 
upon  acting  foolishly?  Of  what  use,  then,  are  the  leisure 
classes,  the  politicians,  the  courts,  if  they  are  not  to 
restrain  and  control  the  people?  You  surely  are  jesting.  " 

"I  am  serious,  Miss  West,"  the  preacher  answered. 
"The  people,  that  is,  the  large  majority  of  them,  wanted 
what  was  bad  for  them,  what  at  length  made  them 
captives  in  Assyria  and  Babylon,  and  the  Lord  com- 
manded his  prophet  not  to  prevent  their  having  it  and 
also  ordered  him  to  assist  the  people  in  accomplishing 
their  purpose." 

"Had  the  people  no  written  constitution?"  Miss  West 
asked  in  surprise.  "Why  did  not  the  courts  exercise 
then-  power  and  declare  their  new  law  unconstitutional?" 

"The  law  of  Moses  was  their  civil  constitution.  It  is 
certainly  opposed  to  monarchy.  Samuel  knew  it  and 
told  the  people  so.  He  was  the  supreme  judge  of  the 
nation.  But  God  forbade  him  to  use  his  judicial  power 
to  defeat  the  wishes  of  the  people. ' ' 


96  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

44 It  is  very  strange, "  Miss  West  exclaimed.  "I  can 
not  understand  it." 

"It  means,"  explained  Mr.  Jones,  "that  the  will  of 
the  majority  of  the  people  should  be  the  supreme  law  of 
the  nation.  Whatever  prevents  or  delays  the  doing  of 
what  they  wish  done  in  public  affairs  is  wrong,  is  rebellion 
against  God." 

"It  would  follow,"  said  the  lawyer  thoughtfully, 
4 'that  written  constitutions,  and  the  powers  claimed  by 
our  courts  of  declaring  unconstitutional  laws  regularly 
passed  by  the  representatives  of  the  people,  and  making 
them  null  and  void,  are  opposed  to  the  teaching  of  the 
Bible.  The  power  claimed  and  exercised  by  our  courts 
of  sitting  in  judgment  on  laws  regularly  passed  and 
making  them  null  and  void  has  only  one  precedent  in 
the  history  of  the  world,  and  that  was  soon  abolished  as 
an  intolerable  oppression." 

44 If  constitutions  defeat  the  will  of  the  people,"  the 
minister  said,  "they  are  condemned  by  the  example  of 
God  when  monarchy  was  established.  He  would  not 
suffer  even  the  law  of  Moses  to  stand  in  their  way.  But 
the  text  approves  that  regard  for  law  and  established 
order  and  for  written  constitutions  which  is  the  founda- 
tion and  the  fence  of  our  Anglo-Saxon  liberties  and  of 
all  constitutional  liberty  throughout  the  world ;  for  law, 
established  order,  constitutions,  institutions,  the  common 
law  are  the  voice  of  the  people.  But  when  the  voice 
claims  to  be  mightier  than  the  people  and  assumes  to 
suppress  the  people's  will,  it  is  a  vile  usurpation. 

44 We  have  an  illustration  in  our  own  history,"  the 
minister  continued,  "of  the  wickedness  and  folly  of  this 
abuse  of  written  constitutions.  The  people  of  1789, 
who  adopted  the  Federal  Constitution,  forbade  the  nation 


THE  PEOPLE  ARE  THE  JUDGES.  9? 

of  1830-1861  to  meddle  with  slavery  in  any  peaceable 
manner,  and  the  latter  submitted  to  this  unreasonable 
and  unscriptural  usurpation.  Every  other  nation  (except 
some  African  and  Asiatic  states)  abolished  slavery  with- 
out war ;  but  we  could  only  wash  it  away  in  blood. 
Our  civil  war,  therefore,  enforces  the  teaching  of 
Scripture." 

"Suppose  that  the  will  of  the  people  is  opposed  to  the 
will  of  God?"  Miss  West  asked. 

"Then  we  must  obey  God  rather  than  man,"  the 
minister  responded.  "But  there  must  be  no  doubt,  no 
possibility  of  reconciling  the  two,  before  we  are  justified 
in  disobeying  the  human  law.  Such  cases  can  rarely 
occur." 

"Are  there  any  other  Biblical  proofs  of  the  principle?" 
the  lawyer  asked. 

"Several,"  was  the  reply.  "Moses,  although  spe- 
cially inspired  of  God,  only  appointed  those  to  be  rulers  in 
Israel  who  were  made  such  by  the  people.  The  election 
of  Jephthah  is  another  illustration  of  the  principle.  Saul, 
although  anointed  king  by  God's  command,  would  not 
exercise  the  royal  authority  till  accepted  by  the  people. 
The  same  was  true  of  David  and  Jeroboam.  Lastly,  we 
have  the  example  of  Christ  himself.  Although  he  was 
the  Son  of  God,  he  would  not  compel  the  man  who  had 
taken  his  brother's  inheritance  to  restore  it,  because  he 
had  not  been  made  a  judge.  He  refused  to  decide  the 
question  whether  the  Jews  should  submit  to  the  Eoman 
emperor,  because  the  decision  of  that  question  belonged 
to  the  people." 

"If  the  Bible,"  Miss  West  objected,  "makes  the  will 
of  the  people  the  supreme  law  of  the  nation,  why  can 
you  not  quote  an  express  command?" 


98  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

"The  Holy  Spirit,"  the  Bible  student  answered, 
"proceeded  in  this  matter  as  he  did  in  the  marriage 
question.  There  are  only  a  few  obscure  intimations  in 
the  Scriptures  that  God  prefers  monogamy,  but  they 
have  been  sufficient  to  establish  it  in  all  Christian 
countries.  Just  so  the  references  to  the  right  of  the 
people  to  rule,  whether  their  will  is  wise  or  foolish,  are 
sufficient  to  establish  the  principle.  An  express  com- 
mand might  have  caused  much  bloodshed  and  might 
not  have  hastened  the  establishment  of  true  democracy." 

"The  principle  is  certainly  reasonable,"  the  lawyer 
said.  "Only  those  laws  which  are  founded  on  popular 
approval  are  well  executed  and  beneficial.  A  law  that 
is  generally  condemned  is  apt  to  be  a  dead  letter;  or,  if 
it  is  enforced,  it  often  does  more  harm  than  good." 

"We  need  a  strong  government  to  protect  the  rights 
of  property,"  the  millionairess  protested. 

"And  when  the  government  and  laws  conform  most 
closely  to  the  will  of  the  people  they  are  strongest,"  the 
parson  continued.  "Our  trouble  is  that  we  really  do 
not  have  a  democratic  government.  Our  courts,  our 
governors,  our  parties,  our  politicians,  our  cliques,  think 
it  right  to  defeat  the  will  of  the  people,  to  bamboozle  the 
people,  to  thwart  their  wishes,  by  judicial  decisions,  by 
political  trickery,  in  every  way.  More  democracy  will 
cure  many  of  our  evils.  Lynch  law  is  an  illustration. 
If  the  administration  of  justice  followed  the  wishes  of 
the  people,  instead  of  the  will  of  the  legal  profession,  it 
would  instantly  disappear. 

"The  Bible  principle  commands  us  to  adopt  all  the 
methods  that  will  give  the  will  of  the  people  more 
influence  over  government.  Among  the  methods  recom- 
mended for  this  purpose  are  the  Australian  ballot, 


THE  PEOPLE  ARE  THE  JUDGES.  99 

woman  suffrage,  the  referendum,  the  initiative,  the 
imperative  mandate,  proportional  representation,  the 
corrupt  practices  act,  which  regulates  the  amount  and 
manner  of  spending  money  on  elections,  and  the  decis- 
ion of  contested  elections  by  impartial  judges.  All  of 
these  except  one  have  been  tried  in  one  country  or 
another  and  have  generally  worked  well.  The  Bible 
principle  forbids  all  methods  which  tend  to  defeat  the 
will  of  the  people. ' ' 

"You  seem  to  defend  mobocracy,"  said  Miss  West. 

1  'To  apply  a  term  of  reproach  to  a  principle  approved 
by  God  is  not  very  reverent,"  the  minister  remarked. 
"We  may  put  the  matter  thus:  If  the  end  of  govern- 
ment is  to  benefit  the  people,  then  no  one  should  rule, 
for  no  one  can  do  more  than  guess  what  measures  will 
benefit  them.  But  if  the  end  of  government  is  to  do 
justice,  the  majority  should  rule;  for  all  have  con- 
sciences to  see  justice,  and  the  majority  are  less  likely 
to  make  a  mistake.  If  government  should  conform  to 
the  higher  law,  the  majority  should  rule,  for  all  have 
alike  and  equally  the  data  of  ethics." 

"And  you  think  it  wrong,"  Miss  West  asked,  sar- 
castically, "for  the  politicians  to  adopt  spread-eagle 
platforms  and  make  spread-eagle  speeches  in  order  to 
protect  the  rights  of  property?" 

"If  the  people  are  God's  agents,  God's  judges,  to 
decide  what  his  law  requires,"  the  minister  replied, 
"whoever  lies  to  them  in  platforms  or  pledges  which  are 
not  meant  to  be  carried  into  effect  lies  to  God." 

"It  is  also  wrong,  I  suppose," — Miss  West  spoke  still 
more  sarcastically, — "to  influence  the  odious  laboring 
classes  when  the  interests  of  property  are  at  stake?" 

"It  is  the  duty  of  every  man  and  woman  to  assist 


100  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

others  to  reach  a  right  decision  of  political  questions," 
Mr.  Jones  replied.  "But  the  intimidation  of  voters, 
and  the  bribery  of  voters,  by  whomsoever  done  or  for 
whatever  purpose,  are  great  crimes  against  God." 

"Such  atrocious  sentiments!"  Miss  West  exclaimed. 
"I  don't  believe  that  you  are  a  clergyman  at  all.  You 
are  an  impostor,  a  communist,  an  anarchist,  a  dyna- 
miter. Have  you  a  bomb  in  your  pocket?  Don't  fire  it 
at  me,  please;  I  have  never  harmed  you.  Come, 
Bellamy;  fly,  Bellamy,  to  the  protection  of  your 
mistress." 

The  lap-dog,  who  had  been  asleep  in  the  next  room, 
heard  the  loud  appeal,  and  there  was  a  scratching  and 
barking  at  one  door  and  a  knocking  at  the  other.  Miss 
West's  maid  and  dog  entered  at  one  door  and  Miss  Jenny 
Smith  at  the  other.  Bellamy  ran  round  the  room, 
barking  furiously,  and  at  last  leaped  into  his  mistress' 
lap  and  licked  her  face,  while  Miss  Jenny  rubbed  her 
wrists.  Miss  West  put  her  hand  over  her  breast,  exclaim- 
ing: "Oh,  my  poor  heart!  I  am  dead,  entirely  dead. 
Cousin  Jack,  do  not  sepulchre  me  in  this  savage  territory, 
where  even  the  ministers  carry  bombs  to  assassinate 
those  who  differ  from  them.  Entomb  me  near  the 
luxurious  cenotaphic  monument  which  I  erected  in 
memory  of  our  dear  Julian  in  glorious  Mount  Auburn 
Cemetery." 

Her  maid  explained  that  she  was  subject  to  such 
hysterical  attacks,  and  that  the  only  remedy  was  to  put 
her  to  bed.  The  company  therefore  retired. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE    IDEAL    WOMAN. 

THE  afternoon  was  fine.  As  they  descended  the  steps 
of  the  Center-of -the- World  Hotel,  Mr.  Robinson  asked 
Miss  Smith  to  take  a  walk,  and  she  agreed.  Mr.  Jones 
looked  at  them  as  they  started  toward  the  Browntown 
Heights. 

Miss  Jenny  Smith  was  about  five  feet  two  inches  high, 
well  proportioned  and  graceful  in  all  her  movements. 
Her  hair  was  a  light  brown  and  her  eyes  matched  it. 
Her  face  no  photograph  could  do  justice  to,  for  its 
charm  lay  in  its  ever-changing  vivacity,  which  the  sun 
could  not  print  upon  paper. 

John  Robinson,  Esq.,  was  six  feet  two  in  height,  had 
black  hair,  rather  coarse,  and  a  spare  frame.  He  was 
very  dignified  in  manner,  and  had  large  features. 

Miss  Jenny  asked  what  had  disturbed  Miss  West. 

"It  was  the  parson's  defense  of  the  right  of  the  people 
to  rule,"  Jack  Robinson  replied,  "and  his  denunciation 
of  the  bribery  and  intimidation  of  voters  as  sins  against 
God." 

"What  did  he  say  about  woman  suffrage?"  she 
inquired. 

"He  rather  favored  it,"  was  the  reply.  "His  text 
was  God's  command  to  civil  government:  'Hearken 
unto  the  voice  of  the  people  in  all  that  they  say  unto 
thee.'  " 

101 


UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

"How  does  that  apply?"  she  asked. 

"The  opponents  of  woman  suffrage  must  take  one  of 
four  positions,"  he  answered.  "They  must  either  assert 
that  women  are  not  people ;  or  that  there  is  some  better 
way  of  hearkening  to  their  voice  in  political  matters  than 
through  the  ballot ;  or  that  they  have  and  can  have  no 
voice  or  opinion  about  public  questions;  or,  lastly,  they 
can  refuse  to  obey  God's  command.  The  first  position 
no  one  can  take,  for  women  are  undoubtedly  people, 
human  beings,  having  conscience  and  reason.  The 
second  position  no  sensible  person  can  occupy.  If 
women  are  to  exert  any  influence  over  political  questions, 
it  should  be  done  openly.  Clandestine,  secret  and 
underhand  methods  are  the  curse  of  our  politics.  For 
example,  the  sugar  trust.  Publicly  it  professes  no  more 
interest  in  politics  than  most  women,  but  secretly  it  con- 
trols both  political  parties  and  levies  its  taxes  upon  every 
family." 

"The  hand  that  rocks  the  cradle  rules  the  world, "  she 
quoted,  laughing. 

"If  that  were  true,"  he  answered,  "it  would  not  be 
obedience  to  God's  command.  It  requires  the  govern- 
ment to  listen  to  the  people  and  not  to  their  children. 
But  it  is  not  true.  The  boys,  when  they  vote,  do  not 
remember  their  mothers'  instructions.  They  think  that 
voting  is  something  that  women  know  nothing  about." 

"If  women  are  to  be  hearkened  to  in  public  matters," 
she  remarked,  "they  should  be  responsible  for  what  they 
say.  Irresponsible  power  is  tyranny." 

"Another  good  reason  why  no  sensible  man  can  sup- 
pose that  there  is  any  better  way  of  hearkening  to  the 
voice  of  woman  than  through  the  ballot,"  Jack  rejoined. 
"There  are  two  other  positions  which  the  opponents  of 


THE  IDEAL  WOMAN.  103 

woman  suffrage  can  hold.  They  can  refuse  to  obey 
God." 

"They  should  be  frank  about  it  and  admit  their  dis- 
obedience," Miss  Jenny  remarked. 

"But  they  are  not,"  was  his  reply.  "They  base  their 
disobedience  on  their  reverence  for  God's  word.  Hypoc- 
risy is  a  hard  word  and  I  do  not  like  to  use  it.  But  the 
ministers  quote  the  text,  'I  suffer  not  a  woman  to  teach 
nor  to  usurp  authority  over  the  man,'  as  forbidding 
woman  suffrage,  and  on  the  very  next  Sunday  perhaps 
they  will  hold  a  congregational  meeting  and  invite  and 
entreat  the  women  to  vote." 

"I  think  it's  harder  to  stand  up  in  church,"  she  said, 
"than  it  would  be  to  put  a  vote  into  the  ballot-box." 

"Their  conduct  shows,"  he  continued,  "that  in  their 
opinion  Paul's  injunctions  about  woman's  keeping  silent 
in  the  churches,  whatever  they  may  mean,  have  no  con- 
nection with  voting." 

"If  the  women  kept  silent,"  she  interjected,  "the 
Sabbath  schools  would  lose  more  than  half  their  scholars, 
and  three-fourths  of  their  teachers,  and  very  many 
churches  would  have  no  singing." 

"Voters  are  not  teachers,  but  judges,  to  decide  what 
God's  law  requires  to  be  done,"  continued  the  lawyer. 
"Voting  is  judging,  not  teaching.  If  women  can  judge 
what  is  right  and  just,  they  should  vote.  God  appointed 
them  to  be  judges  when  he  gave  them  conscience  and 
reason,  and  when  he  said,  'Hearken  unto  the  voice  of 
the  people. '  ' 

They  had  been  walking  briskly  and  had  reached  the 
crest  of  the  hill,  and  they  looked  over  the  city,  two 
miles  long,  for  a  little  while.  As  they  turned  to  go 
homeward,  Mr.  Robinson  resumed  the  subject. 


104  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

" There  is  one  other  position  that  the  enemies  of 
woman  suffrage  can  take — that  women  have  no  voice, 
no  sentiments,  no  opinions  to  utter  upon  public  ques- 
tions." 

"That  is  true  of  most,  I  fear,"  Miss  Jenny  replied. 
"How  should  they,  when  the  state  forbids  them  to  utter 
any  in  the  only  way  that  can  affect  the  making  and 
execution  of  laws?" 

"The  parson's  text  requires  the  government  to  listen 
to  the  women  who  do  have  opinions  about  public  mat- 
ters," the  lawyer  said.  "It  is  a  great  loss  to  the  public 
that  all  do  not.  If  public  prosperity  lies  in  conformity 
to  righteousness,  to  the  principles  of  public  justice  which 
God  has  ordained,  we  can  ill  spare  woman's  clearer 
insight  into  moral  questions  and  her  keener  conscience." 

"That  very  fact,  if  it  be  one,"  the  member  of  the 
W.  C.  T.  U.  answered,  "is  made  an  argument  against 
woman  suffrage.  They  say  that  voting  would  destroy 
woman's  modesty  and  purity." 

"Why  should  it?"  he  asked.  "I  have  noticed  that 
places  frequented  by  women,  passenger  cars,  restaurants, 
stores,  lawyers'  offices,  printing  offices,  are  cleaner  than 
those  occupied  only  by  men.  Why  should  it  be  different 
with  political  assemblages  and  voting-booths?" 

"But  I  think  that  you  do  us  more  than  justice,"  the 
woman  replied.  "We  are  very  much  like  our  brothers 
and  fathers  and  husbands,  and  we  share  most  of  their 
views." 

"You  do  not  entirely  coincide  with  them,"  the  man 
argued.     "There  is  a  womanly  point  of  view,  and  it 
must  have  its  use,  otherwise  God  would  not  have  made 
man  and  woman  unlike  mentally.     The  women  consti 
tute  more  than  half  the  adult  population,  and  as  long  as 


THE  IDEAL  WOMAN.  105 

we  refuse  to  listen  to  them  we  disobey  the  order,  'Hearken 
unto  the  voice  of  the  people.'  " 

"But  some  say  that  women  have  not  sense  enough  to 
vote,"  Miss  Jenny  objected. 

"Excuse  me,  Miss  Jenny,"  the  lawyer  replied;  "the 
command  was  not  to  hearken  to  people  of  sense,  but 
to  obey  those  who  had  no  sense,  who  were  making  a  very 
unwise  choice.  A  child  of  ten  could  haie  chosen  better 
after  hearing  Saul's  comparison  between  the  two  forms 
of  government  than  the  people  did.  But  God  ordered 
that  they  be  obeyed.  Moreover,  if  the  object  of  voting 
is  to  make  our  nation  rich,  no  one  has  sense  enough  to 
vote;  for  no  one,  except  God,  knows  what  laws  or  what 
officers  will  secure  that  end.  But  if  the  end  of  voting 
is  to  obtain  just  laws  and  righteous  officers,  I  must 
adhere  to  my  opinion  that  women  are  as  well  qualified  to 
vote  as  men.  Their  minds,  though  somewhat  different, 
are  by  nature  as  good  as  those  of  men.  The  girls  go  to 
school,  as  a  rule,  longer  than  the  boys.  The  women 
have  more  leisure  than  the  men,  and  read  more  and 
better  papers  and  books.  The  men  have  the  intelligence 
that  comes  from  attending  court  and  serving  on  juries 
and  hearing  political  speeches,  which  the  women  lack; 
-but  the  women  derive  more  benefit  from  the  services  of 
the  church  than  the  men.  And  if  they  lack  the  develop- 
ment that  business  gives,  they  are  also  free  from  its  evil 
influences.  But  all  this  is  aside  from  the  question. 
God  ordains  not  aristocracy  or  the  government  of  the 
best,  but  democracy,  the  government  of  the  people." 

After  a  pause  Miss  Jenny  remarked:  "Women's 
duties  are  not  settled  by  the  laws  of  Tennessee,  but  by 
the  law  of  God." 

"What  a  ridiculous  thing  it  is,"  her  companion  said, 


106  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

"to  see  a  mother  stinting  herself  and  her  family  in  the 
matter  of  sugar,  scolding  her  children  for  asking  for 
another  spoonful  on  their  mush  or  porridge,  and  yet  not 
knowing  or  caring  to  know  why  sugar  costs  so  much 
more  here  than  in  England." 

"Is  it  more  absurd  or  more  pitiful?"  the  woman 
asked. 

1 '  Or  a  wife, ' '  the  man  continued,  trying  to  make 
every  dollar  do  the-  work  of  two,  oppressing,  beating 
down  every  woman  she  hires  and  every  one  she  deals 
with,  and  yet  never  asking  what  makes  her  husband's 
wages  or  salary  so  small.  It  is  silly." 

"It  is  sinful,"  the  woman  said  as  they  turned  into  the 
street  on  which  she  lived.  "You  are  too  charitable  to 
my  sex.  The  conduct  you  describe  is  wicked,  especially 
in  a  Christian  woman  who  believes  that  God  governs  the 
world  and  that  his  book  reveals  the  principles  of  his 
government.  Mercy  is  the  beauty  of  womanhood.  The 
woman  who  thinks  only  of  her  family  and  kindred,  her 
friends  and  neighbors,  who  cares  nothing  about  the 
misery  there  is  in  the  world,  not  even  enough  to  investi- 
gate its  causes,  whose  thoughts  are  bounded  by  her  house 
or  her  village — such  a  woman  is  a  slander  upon  her  sex, 
and,  if  she  is  a  professor  of  religion,  upon  Christ  who 
redeemed  her.  The  true  woman,"  she  continued,  her 
eyes  lighting,  "has  mercy  for  her  dress.  Pity  for  the 
poor  adorns  her  brow — not  a  pity  that  deals  only  in 
crusts  of  bread  and  flannels,  but  a  pity  that  also  thinks 
and  prays  and  studies  God's  word  and  speaks  to  men  and 
women.  Instead  of  talking  gossip  or  about  the  imagin- 
ary woes  of  the  heroes  and  heroines  of  fiction,  she  knows 
and  feels  the  real  miseries  of  the  world  and  the  causes 
that  produce  them.  She  loves  what  Jesus  loved,  and 


THE  IDEAL  WOMAN.  107 

hates  the  injustice  which  is  an  abomination  to  Christ. 
God  pronounced  her  benediction  when  he  said  through 
David:  'Blessed  is  he  that  considereth  the  poor' — that 
meditates  upon  the  causes  of  their  want." 

"Yes,"  said  Jack  Robinson,  "that  is  my  ideal  woman. 
And  she  has,  Jenny,  your  hair,  your  height  and  your 
face." 

He  reached  out  to  grasp  her  hand.  But  he  did  not 
get  it,  for  Susie  and  Bobby  Smith,  who  had  seen  them 
coming  and  had  run  to  meet  them,  each  seized  one  of 
her  hands.  He  could  not  even  see  her  face,  for  she  bent 
over  the  children  to  kiss  them  and  to  arrange  Susie's 
hat,  which  had  fallen  back  over  her  shoulders.  Her 
blush  at  the  gate  as  she  bade  him  good-by  told  him 
nothing,  and  as  he  went  back  to  his  office  he  was  not 
feeling  very  kindly  toward  children. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

TAXING    HONESTY — NATIONAL    DEBTS. 

THE  next  day,  Saturday,  the  Rev.  Jacob  Jones 
walked  into  Browntown  to  get  his  mail.  On  Main 
Street  Capt.  Bill  Johnson,  the  tax  assessor,  met  him. 
and  asked  him  to  fill  out  a  tax  blank.  "By  doing  so," 
he  said,  "you  will  save  me  the  labor  of  going  out  to  your 
place." 

Mr.  Jones  expressed  his  willingness  to  save 
trouble,  and  proposed  that  they  should  step  into  Mr. 
Smith's  office.  On  their  way  through  the  store  they 
spoke  to  Mr.  Smith,  who  was  waiting  on  some  ladies. 
He  told  them  to  use  his  office  and  added:  "Brother 
Jones,  you  will  find  a  Bible  there  if  you  need  one.  I 
was  ashamed  that  there  was  none  there  the  other  day ;  for 
I  try  to  run  my  store  on  Bible  principles." 

Bob  Dodson  sat  in  the  chair  in  the  office,  by  the  fire, 
and  Capt.  Johnson  sat  on  a  box.  Mr.  Jones  took 
the  stool  by  the  desk  to  fill  out  the  blank.  He  read  to 
himself  the  oath  at  its  foot : 

"I, ,    do    hereby    solemnly   swear    that    the 

above  schedules  contain  a  full  and  true  statement  and 
description  of  all  the  property  I  or  my  wife  or  minor 
children  own,  or  have  an  interest  in,  or  which  I  control, 
regardless  of  exemptions,  and  that  I  have  truthfully 
answered  all  questions,  so  help  me  God." 

108 


TAXING  HONESTY— NATIONAL  DEBTS.        109 

"This  is  an  oath,"  he  said,  looking  up,  "and  it  seems 
to  be  a  yery  full  and  explicit  one,  Capt.  Johnson. " 

"Yes,  indeed,"  said  the  assessor,  spitting  into  the 
fire. 

"The  first  item  in  the  schedule,  I  see,  is  accounts,"  said 
the  parson.  "Andy  Moore  owes  me  a  dollar  for  marry- 
ing him  last  week.  He'll  never  pay,  but  it  is  an 
account.  I  have  in  my  hands  several  hundred  accounts 
due  from  subscribers  of  a  suspended  paper.  The  last 
time  I  dunned  them  I  did  not  receive  enough  to  pay 
postage;  but  they  are  accounts.  The  Washingtonville 
church  has  owed  me  a  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  on 
salary  for  ten  years.  It  will  take  several  days'  hard 
work  to  fill  up  this  first  blank,  Capt.  Johnson." 

"If  those  are  all,"  said  the  assessor,  "put  down  a 
zero.-" 

"But  I  am  to  swear  that  it  is  a  'full  statement.'  My 
wife's  accounts.  She  sells  chickens  and  butter  some- 
times, and  I  do  not  know  her  accounts." 

'  'Put  a  zero  there  too." 

"Jake  has  an  old  muzzle-loading  shot-gun  which  he  is 
always  swapping.  Sometimes  he  gets  boot  and  gives 
credit." 

"A  zero  there  too." 

"But  I  am  to  swear  that  this  is  a  full  statement. 
Here  is  another  item:  'Steamboats.'  Everybody 
knows,  Captain,  that  I  have  no  steamboat.  I  have  had 
to  haul  water  for  several  weeks,  and  how  could  I  run  a 
steamboat?" 

"Put  an  aught  there,  too." 

"But  I  read  that  'An  oath  for  confirmation  is  to  men 
an  end  of  all  strife.'  To  swear  to  a  fact  that  is  not 
disputed,  concerning  which  there  is  no  doubt,  looks  to 


^  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

me  like  taking  God's  name  in  vain — a  violation  of  the 
third  commandment." 

"If  you  won't  sign  the  blank  I  shall  have  to  estimate 
your  personalty,  parson,"  said  the  assessor. 

"And  if  you  estimate  it  too  high,  put  me  to  the 
trouble  of  having  it  reduced,"  said  the  minister. 
"Doesn't  it  seem  to  you  a  mean  business,  putting  people 
to  trouble  unless  they  will  take  frivolous  oaths?" 

"If  you  mean  that  for  a  personal  reflection " 

Capt.  Johnson  began. 

"I  do  not,"  the  minister  interrupted  him.  "I  speak 
in  sorrow.  False  swearing  is  one  of  our  national  sins." 

"It  is  the  law,"  he  replied.  "Our  assessment  blanks 
don't  differ  much  from  those  of  other  states." 

"Is  the  law  right?"  the  other  asked.  "Does  it  accord 
with  the  third  commandment — with  God's  law?  Does 
it  accomplish  the  end  sought?  There  are  men  who 
notoriously  own  fifty  or  a  hundred  thousand  dollars' 
worth  of  property.  When  you  give  them  a  blank  they 
admit  owning  perhaps  five  thousand  dollars.  You  can't 
do  anything  with  them.  Every  member  of  the  grand 
jury  has  taken  your  frivolous  and  idle  oath,  and  you 
wouldn't  get  an  indictment.  If  you  did,  the  judge, 
the  prosecuting  attorney  and  the  petit  jury  have  care- 
lessly signed  such  blanks,  and  there  would  be  no  con- 
viction." 

"That's  true,"  the  assessor  admitted.  "I  never 
heard  or  read  of  any  one's  being  punished  for  making  a 
false  return.  But  some  have  such  a  regard  for  an  oath 
that  they  will  make  true  returns." 

"The  tax  on  personalty,  then,  if  I  understand  you, 
is  a  tax  on  honesty,  veracity  and  the  fear  of  God,"  the 
minister  said.  "Is  such  a  tax  right?" 


TAXING  HONESTY— NATIONAL  DEBTS.        Ill 

The  assessor  slowly  replied:     "No,  I  think  not." 

"And  the  laws  of  Tennessee  and  other  states  are  always 
laboring  to  diminish  the  regard  of  the  people  for  an 
oath,"  Mr.  Jones  continued,  "by  requiring  them  to  take 
unnecessary  and  frivolous  oaths.  Is  that  right?" 

"No,  it  is  not,"  Capt.  Johnson  answered  more 
promptly. 

"Every  year,  if  the  tax  assessors  reach  all,  twelve 
million  adults  carelessly  take  an  oath,  take  God's  name 
in  vain,  do  it  uselessly,"  the  minister  said.  "Is  it  any 
wonder  that  times  are  so  hard?" 

Bob  Dodson,  the  carpenter,  who  had  been  listening, 
roused  himself  to  ask:  "Would  you  tell  us  what  the 
Bible  says  about  taxes?" 

"I  don't  believe  it  says  anything,"  Capt.  Johnson 
said.  "The  Bible  is  meant  to  tell  us  how  to  get  to 
heaven. " 

"A  mistake.  The  Bible  says  very  little  about 
heaven,"  the  minister  explained.  "It  tells  us  chiefly 
how  to  live  on  earth.  Of  course  it  speaks  about  paying 
taxes." 

"Go  ahead,"  Capt.  Johnson  said.  "If  it  says  any- 
thing about  taxation  I  should  like  to  hear  it." 

Mr.  Jones  replied  by  stating — 

"Principle  10. — The  Bible  commands  all  to  pay  taxes, 
to  assist  in  defraying  the  necessary  expenses  of  civil 
government." 

"I  wish  you'd  preach  that  doctrine,"  said  the  assessor. 
"It  would  help  me  very  much." 

"Yes,  they  should  pay  them  cheerfully  and  consci- 
entiously, as  to  the  Lord,  for  civil  rulers  are  God's 
ministers.  If  I  were  to  preach  a  sermon  about  it,  as 


112  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

Capt.  Johnson  suggests,  it  would  have  four  heads,  as 
follows : 

"1.  Christ's  example  He  refused  to  work  a  miracle 
to  support  his  life,  but  he  worked  one  to  pay  his  taxes. 

"2.  Christ's  command:  'Render  to  Caesar  the  things 
that  are  Caesar's.'  He  places  our  political  duties,  and 
especially  paying  taxes,  on  a  level  with  our  duties  to 
God. 

"3.  Paul's  exhortation.  Here  it  is,"  he  said,  opening 
Mr.  Smith's  new  Bible.  ' 'Romans  13:  6-7:  'Pay  ye 
tribute  also:  for  they  [magistrates]  are  God's  ministers, 
attending  continually  upon  this  very  thing.  Render, 
therefore,  to  all  their  dues :  tribute  to  whom  tribute  is 
due;  custom  to  whom  custom;  fear  to  whom  fear; 
honor  to  whom  honor.' 

"4.  The  analogy  of  the  church.  The  passage  is: 
I  Corinthians,  9:  1-12.  If  God's  ecclesiastical  servants 
should  be  supported  by  the  people,  so  also  should  his 
political  servants  be." 

"If  that's  Bible  doctrine,"  Bob  Dodson  said,  "it  is 
very  odd  that  the  churches  should  be  willing  to  have 
their  property  uritaxed." 

"But  they  are  doing  a  good  work,"  Capt.  Johnson 
objected,  "a  useful  work  to  the  state." 

"So  is  every  man  who  is  raising  his  children 
honestly,"  the  carpenter  rejoined. 

"It  is  queer  that  the  churches  in  this  matter  should 
reject  the  example  and  precept  of  Christ. "  The  minister 
continued:  "The  principle  also  requires  that  the  nec- 
essary and  proper  expenses  of  the  political  parties  be 
paid  by  the  people  in  an  open  and  honorable  manner." 

"Why?"  Mr.  Dodson  asked. 

"Because  political  parties  are  an  essential  part  of  our 


TAXING  HONESTY— NATIONAL  DEBTS.      113 

governmental  machinery;  and  the  texts  that  prove  that 
other  political  expenses  should  be 'paid  by  the  people 
prove  that  these  also  should  be.  Now  they  are  collected 
from  those  who  desire  favors  from  the  government, 
from  protected  interests,  from  trusts  and  monopolies, 
from  candidates  for  office  and  office-holders." 

"What  are  the  objections  to  their  paying  these  politi- 
cal expenses,  if  they  wish  to?"  asked  Mr.  Smith,  who 
had  entered  the  office. 

"They  may  be  arranged  under  four  heads,"  Mr.  Jones 
answered.  "First,  the  parties  incur  obligations  to  the 
trusts,  owners  of  natural  monopolies,  office-seekers,  etc. 
Secondly,  the  money  which  is  secretly  and  corruptly 
obtained  is  corruptly  and  secretly  spent.  Thirdly,  the 
necessity  of  obtaining  money  by  corrupt  means  for  their 
parties  corrupts  the  party  leaders.  And,  fourthly,  those 
who  collect  the  money  have  the  power  of  the  purse  and 
become  the  party  'bosses.'  ' 

"The  sugar  trust,  I  guess,"  said  Bob  Dodson,  "bribes 
both  parties,  for,  whichever  is  in  power,  it  is  on  top." 

"If  the  people  paid  the  expenses  of  the  parties,  as 
they  do  those  of  the  churches,  by  free-will  gifts,"  Mr. 
Jones  added,  "it  would  help  to  purify  politics." 

"Give  us  another  principle,"  said  the  merchant. 

"Very  well.     My  eleventh  maxim  is: 

"Principle  11. — National  debts  are  forbidden  by 
God." 

"There  is  not  a  word  in  the  Bible  about  national 
debts,"  the  merchant  said.  "They  were  unknown  in 
Bible  ages.  They  are  comparatively  a  modern 
invention." 

"If  they  were  a  reasonable   and    righteous    way   of 


114  UNCLE  SAM'S   BIBLE. 

paying  national  expenses,  is  it  likely  that  the  old  nations 
would  have  known  nothing  about  them?"  Bob  Dodson 
demanded. 

"There  is  nothing  in  the  Bible  forbidding  counter- 
feiting or  forgery.  Does  the  Bible  permit  -them?  It  is 
a  book  of  moral  principles,  and  not  of  legal  rules.  In 
forbidding  it  commands,  and  in  commanding  forbids. 
By  enjoining  one  act  it  prohibits  the  contrary.  The  ten 
commandments  are  examples.  The  first,  by  forbidding 
us  to  reverence  false  gods,  requires  us  to  reverence  the 
true  God.  By  prohibiting  idolatrous  worship,  the 
second  enjoins  spiritual  worship.  The  third,  by  for- 
bidding profanity,  commands  reverence.  The  fourth, 
by  ordering  the  sanctification  of  the  Sabbath,  forbids 
Sabbath-breaking.  The  fifth  forbids  disobedience  to 
parents  by  commanding  honor." 

"Enough,"  said  Mr.  Smith.  "All  must  admit  that 
rule  of  interpretation." 

"By  commanding  the  support  of  government  by  tax- 
ation, "the  parson  continued,  "the  Bible  forbids  its  sup- 
port by  borrowing.  The  two  are  contrary  to  each  other, 
and  if  one  is  commanded,  the  other  is  forbidden." 

But  how  can  nations  carry  on  war  if  they  can't  bor- 
row money?"  Capt.  Johnson  asked. 

"As  they  draft  men  to  fight,  so  they  can  take  the 
money  to  support  them,"  the  parson  replied.  "A 
man's  money  is  not  so  important  to  him  as  his  life.  If 
the  cause  of  war  justifies  the  taking  of  one,  it  justifies 
the  other." 

"War  is  very  expensive  now,"  said  Bob  Dodson.  "I 
fancy  that  there  would  be  little  more  of  it  if  its  cost 
could  not  be  cast  upon  posterity." 

"You  don't  favor  repudiation?"  asked  Capt.  Johnson* 


TAXING  HONESTY— NATIONAL  DEBTS.        115 

"The  Bible  condemns  it,"  the  minister  replied. 
"Israel  made  unwise  and  foolish  promises  to  Gibeon, 
but  God  commanded  that  they  be  kept.  The  passages," 
he  said,  referring  to  Mr.  Smith's  new  Bible,  "are 
Joshua,  ninth  chapter,  and  second  Samuel,  twenty-first 
chapter.  So  national  debts,  which  are  merely  promises 
to  take  money  from  some  citizens  to  give  it  to  others, 
were  unwise,  but  they  must  be  kept. 

"Moreover,  national  debts  are  so  mixed  up  with 
interest  or  usury  that,  if  this  is  forbidden,  national 
debts  are  forbiddden  also. 

"To  accept  this  principle  we  need  more  faith  in  God, 
to  believe  that  he  knows  more  about  civil  government 
than  we  do.  Faith  is  the  great  need  of  the  church 
to-day." 

Capt.  Johnson  sat  musing,  crossing  and  recrossing  his 
knees  and  spitting  vigorously  into  the  grate.  At  last 
he  said:  "I  am  in  for  it  this  year;  but  afterwards,  I 
promise  you,  parson,  you  will  not  find  me  engaged 
in  the  low-down,  mean,  dirty  business  of  toting  around 
assessment  blanks." 


CHAPTER   XV. 

MOKE    ABOUT   TAXES. 

ALL  were  surprised  by  the  exclamation  of  Capt.  John- 
son. After  a  protracted  silence,  Mr.  Smith  said: 
"Give  us  another."  The  response  was: 

' ''  Principle  12. — Government  should  collect  no  more 
taxes  from  the  people  than  are  needed  for  its  modest 


"Is  that  in  the  Bible?"  Bob  Dodson  asked. 
"Listen!"  said  Mr.  Jones,  reading  from  Mr.  Smith's 
Bible. 

"The  Lord  will  enter  into  judgment  with  the  ancients 
[seniors,  senators]  of  his  people,  and  the  princes 
thereof :  for  ye  have  eaten  up  the  vineyard ;  the  spoil  of 
the  poor  is  in  your  houses.  What  mean  ye  that  ye  beat 
my  people  to  pieces,  and  grind  the  faces  of  the  poor? 
saith  the  Lord  God  of  hosts."— Isaiah  3:  14-15. 

"Hurrah  for  the  Bible!"  cried  Bob  Dodson,  who  did 
not  go  to  church  as  often  as  he  might.  "Are  there 
many  such  passages?" 

"Scores,"  replied  the  parson.  "The  Prophets  are 
full  of  denunciations  of  oppression,  and  of  all  kinds  of 
oppression  heavy  taxation  is  the  worst.  Other  forms, 
the  results  of  pride  or  passion,  are  more  temporary ;  bui 
heavy  taxes,  like  covetousness,  tend  to  grow  worse  and 
worse. 

"Besides,  all  the  passages  which  require  the  govern 
116 


MORE  ABOUT  TAXES.  117 

merit  to  be  just  forbid  heavy  taxes.  What  the  people 
earn  is  theirs,  and  to  take  from  them  more  than  is 
absolutely  necessary  for  the  expenses  of  government  is 
injustice,  is  robbery.  And  we  may  be  sure  that  heavy 
taxes  are  odious  to  Christ,  the  King,  who  shall  'reign 
in  righteousness.'  " 

11  Are  those  who  defend  high  taxes  real  Christians?" 
asked  the  carpenter. 

"I  was  impressed  with  this  evil  last  year,"  said  the 
merchant.  "I  stopped  in  Washington  on  my  way  home 
from  New  York,  and  I  went  over  the  new  library  build- 
ing. It  cost  five  and  a  half  millions.  All  this  money 
was  taken  from  the  people.  A  good  brick  building, 
large  enough  to  hold  the  books,  could  have  been  built 
for  a  hundred  thousand.  The  next  Monday  was  court 
day  in  Browntown.  The  people  were  shabby.  Most  of 
them  live  in  unpainted  houses.  The  contrast  between 
government  luxury  and  the  people's  shabbiness  struck 
me." 

"It  is  an  honor  to  the  country  to  have  such  a  build- 
ing," said  Capt.  Johnson. 

"It  would  be  a  greater  honor  to  the  country,"  said 
the  merchant,  who  sold  paints  as  well  as  dry  goods,  "to 
have  twenty-five  dollars'  worth  of  paint  on  two  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand  houses,  or  one  of  my  two-dollar 
hats  on  each  of  two  million  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  men,  or  one  of  my  five-dollar  dress  patterns  on 
a  million  women.  The  true  glory  of  a  nation  is  the 
homes  of  its  people." 

"But  we  have  to  pay  large  salaries  to  secure  the  serv- 
ices of  capable  men  in  offices,"  said  Capt.  Johnson. 

"It  seems  to  me  that  large  salaries  attract  the 
mercenary  ones,"  remarked  Bob  Dodson.  "Men  want 


118  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

office  not  to  serve  their  country,  jnot  even  for  the  honor 
of  it,  but  only  to  draw  the  salaries." 

"If  there  is  anything  in  what  Brother  Jones  told  us 
here  the  other  day,"  Mr.  Smith  said,  "it  is  as  honorable 
to  serve  the  state  as  the  church;  and  if  so,  we  ought  to 
get  as  good  men  at  the  salaries  paid  to  ministers. " 

"Let  us  have  another,"  Bob  Dodson  said. 

"Principle  13. —  Unjust  taxes  are  an  abomination  to 
the  Lord." 

"The  proof?"  demanded  the  merchant. 

"Christ  is  just,  and  hates  injustice,"  replied  Mr. 
Jones.  "Civil  rulers  are  his  ministers.  The  use  of 
urijust  means  for  their  support  must  be  odious  to 
him." 

"What  taxes  are  unjust?"  asked  Capt.  Johnson. 

"Every  one  should  pay  according  to  his  means,"  said 
Bob  Dodson.  "Any  other  tax  is  unjust." 

"And  therefore  very  hateful  to  our  Lord  and  Savior 
Jesus  Christ,"  added  Mr.  Jones.  "All  taxes  collected 
from  the  needs  of  the  people,  all  taxes  that  increase  the 
cost  of  the  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life,  that  is,  all 
indirect  taxes,  are  unjust  and  an  abomination  in  God's 
sight." 

"What  are  indirect  taxes?"  asked  Bob  Dodson. 

"Taxes  indirectly  collected,"  the  merchant  explained. 
"Thus  an  import  duty  on  cloth,  for  example,  is  paid 
at  last  by  the  person  using  the  cloth.  It  is  merely 
advanced  by  the  importer,  the  jobber  and  the  wholesale 
and  retail  merchants;  but  they  get  it  back  when  the 
cloth  is  sold  to  the  consumer." 

"And  a  profit  on  it,  too,"  the  parson  added.  "The 
tax  increases  the  cost  of  the  goods  on  which  profits  are 


MORE  ABOUT  TAXES.  119 

made.  If  the  tax  is  one  dollar,  and  each  of  the  four 
(•lasses  makes  a  profit  of  ten  per  cent.,  forty  cents  is 
taken  from  the  consumer  and  given  to  the  merchants, 
without  any  advantage  to  the  government.  This  is 
unjust.  But  the  chief  injustice  is  that  the  people  pay 
for  the  support  of  the  government,  not  according  to 
their  abilities,  but  according  to  their  needs.  The  one 
who  needs  most  pays  most,  and  not  the  one  who  has 
most.  This  is  wicked. " 

"Indirect  taxes  are  very  easily  collected  and  cause  less 
complaint  than  any  other  form  of  taxation,"  said  the  tax 
assessor,  "because  the  people  don't  know  it  when  they 
pay  them." 

"Should  we  prefer  our  convenience,"  the  merchant 
asked,  "to  obeying  God  and  having  his  favor?" 

"The  fact  that  the  people  do  not  know  when  they  pay 
these  taxes,"  said  Mr.  Jones,  "is  a  disadvantage.  They 
are  less  careful  in  watching  the  expenditures  of  the 
government." 

"Are  not  these  indirect  taxes  arranged  for  the  benefit 
of  the  monopolies?"  asked  the  carpenter. 

"For  that  reason  also  they  are  hateful  to  God,"  said 
the  minister.  "But  indirect  taxes  are  not  the  only 
unjust  ones.  All  taxes  that  increase  the  cost  and  price 
of  products  are  unrighteous.  For  example,  if  houses 
are  taxed,  fewer  will  be  built,  and  the  price  of  houses 
and  house  rent  will  be  raised.  If  factories  are  taxed, 
fewer  manufactured  goods  will  be  made.  If  bank  stock 
is  taxed,  there  will  be  less  capital  in  banks,  for  no  one 
is  compelled  to  put  his  money  into  bank  stock ;  the  rate 
of  discount  will  be  higher,  the  expense  of  doing  busi- 
ness will  be  greater,  and  the  prices  of  retail  merchants 
will  also  be  higher.  This  is  called  the  shifting  of  taxes. 


120  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

All  taxes  that  are  or  can  be  shifted  are,  like  indirect 
taxes,  unjust." 

"What  about  privilege  taxes?"  asked  Capt.  Johnson. 

"They  are  shiftable,  and  therefore  immoral,"  said  the 
minister.  "For  example,  no  one  can  be  a  drayman 
here  in  Browntown  unless  he  previously  pays  five  dollars 
to  the  corporation.  This  tends  to  diminish  the  number 
of  teams  able  to  haul  furniture  or  other  goods  from  one 
part  of  the  town  to  another  and  thus  raises  the  price  of 
hauling." 

"Are  such  taxes  always  shifted?"  the  merchant 
asked. 

"They  are  not,  and  no  one  can  tell  in  advance 
whether  they  will  be,  nor  afterwards  whether  they  have 
been  partially  or  wholly  shifted.  In  a  community 
where  the  demand  for  houses  is  stationary  or  decreasing, 
the  tax  on  houses  cannot  be  shifted.  In  a  town  fully 
supplied  with  banks  the  tax  on  banking  capital  will  be 
paid  by  the  owners  of  bank  stock,  for  they  would  rather 
pay  it  than  go  out  of  business." 

"It  is  a  small  matter,  anyhow,  if  a  man  does  not 
know  it  when  a  tax  is  shifted  upon  him,"  Bob  Dodson 
remarked. 

"Sin  is  never  a  small  matter,"  said  the  minister. 
"From  the  doubt  of  our  first  parent  has  proceeded  all 
the  misery  there  is  in  the  world.  If  a  finger  mortifies, 
the  whole  body  dies  unless  it  is  cut  off.  These  taxes  oper- 
ate in  another  way.  By  raising  the  price  of  products 
they  hinder  the  demand  for  them  and  thus  help  to  pro- 
duce what  is  called  overproduction.  It  should  be  called 
underconsumption;  for  in  truth  there  can  be  no  over- 
production until  all  are  more  than  supplied  with  all  the 
comforts  of  life.  This  'overproduction,'  caused  partly 


MORE  ABOUT  TAXES.  121 

by  wicked  taxes,  stops  the  factories,  discharges  workmen 
and  lowers  wages." 

"What  does  it  amount  to,  anyhow?"  asked  Bob 
Dodson. 

"It  has  been  estimated  that  the  taxes  on  the  needs  of 
the  people,  such  as  most  of  our  taxes  are,"  replied  Mr. 
Jones,  "cost  a  family  having  an  income  of  three  hundred 
dollars  a  year  one-fourth  of  their  income.  Most  Ameri- 
can families  have  a  less  income  than  that." 

"How  can  that  be?"  Bob  Dodson  said.  "My  taxes 
last  year  were  only  two  dollars." 

"You  paid  the  tax  in  the  increased  price  of  everything 
you  or  your  wife  bought,"  said  Mr.  Jones.  "And 
others,  having  like  burdens,  were  prevented  from  build- 
ing or  enlarging  their  houses,  so  that  you  lost  many 
days'  wages." 

"Seventy-five  dollars?"  exclaimed  Dodson.  "It 
would  have  bought  a  Snndny  bonnet  and  dress  for 
Sophy,  and  the  children  wouli  go  to  Sunday  school 
more  regularly,  for  they  could  always  have  a  nickel  to 
put  in  the  collection.  And  I  could  fix  myself  so  I 
wouldn't  be  ashamed  to  go  to  church,  and  buy  that 
book  on  carpentering  I  have  wanted  so  long,  and  sub- 
scribe for  the  Christian  Advocate  for  Sophy,  and  the 
YoutVs  Companion  for  the  children.  It's  worth  look- 
ing into." 

"But  I  trust,  my  brother,  that  you  will  not  look  into 
it  as  a  matter  of  dollars  and  cents,"  said  the  minister. 
"That  is  a  very  low  view  to  take  of  it.  If  you  only 
look  at  it  that  way  your  interest  in  the  tax  question  will 
grow  less  when  times  get  a  little  easier.  Study  it  as  a 
question  of  right  and  wrong.  Look  at  it,  as  Christ  did, 
through  the  law  and  the  prophets.  Fight  wicked  taxes 


122  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

as  a  Christian,   because  you  fear  God  and  love  men, 
because  Christ  died  for  you." 

''Your  remarks  on  the  assessment  blank,  a  while  ago, 
parson,"  said  Capt.  Johnson,  "satisfied  me  that  taxes 
on  personal  property  are  unequal  and  unfair." 

"Mere  guesswork,"  the  merchant  said,  "either  by  the 
assessor  or  the  one  assessed.  For  example,  I  don't  know 
what  goods  I  have  on  hand  till  I  take  stock  next  Jan- 
uary; and  then  I  won't  know  what  I  can  sell  them  for. 
I  can  know  what  I  hope  to  sell  them  for ;  but  hopes  are 
not  always  realized." 

"It  is  a  fact,"  Mr.  Jones  added,  "that  in  the  cities, 
where  the  personal  wealth  of  the  country  is  concen- 
trated, the  taxes  on  personalty  are  less  than  in  the 
country.  The  personal  taxes  are  wicked,  hateful  to 
Christ,  because  they  are  unequal,  unfair  to  the  poor, 
merely  arbitrary." 

"Can't  that  be  remedied?"  the  carpenter  asked. 

"For  hundreds  of  years  the  effort  has  failed,"  Mr. 
Jones  replied.  "The  difficulty  is  inherent.  Mr.  Smith 
cannot  tell  what  money  his  goods  will  bring.  Capt. 
Johnson  can't  help  him.  The  only  way  is  to  make  the 
assessment  low;  and  the  more  property  there  is  the 
wider  will  be  the  margin  of  doubt,  at  the  lower  edge 
of  which  the  assessment  must  be  placed.  If  all  men 
were  as  unselfish  and  as  honest  as  the  angel  Gabriel, 
the  tax  on  personal  property  would  be  unjust  and 
wicked." 

"Are  there  any  just  taxes,  parson?"  Bob  Dodson 
inquired. 

"Several,"  was  the  reply.  "The  tax  on  land  values, 
the  income  tax,  the  tax  on  inheritances  and  legacies, 
and  within  moderate  limits  the  poll-tax." 


MORE  ABOUT  TAXES.  123 

" What's  the  difference  between  these  and  the  other 
taxes?"  Bob  Dodson  asked  again. 

"First,  they  are  fair,"  the  preacher  answered. 
"Each  one  contributes  to  the  expenses  of  the  govern- 
ment according  to  his  ability.  Secondly,  they  are  cer- 
tain; no  one  can  shift  his  burden  onto  others.  Thirdly, 
all  paid  goes  into  the  public  treasury.  Fourthly,  they 
do  not  raise  prices,  hinder  production,  or  decrease  the 
demand  for  labor  or  the  wages  of  the  laborer.  Fifthly, 
they  are  not  arbitrary,  not  guesswork.  Land  lies  out  of 
doors,  and  the  assessment  of  one  lot  or  field  helps  in 
assessing  the  adjacent  lots  or  fields.  The  amount  of  the 
inheritance  or  legacy  is  known,  for  it  passes  through  the 
courts.  It  is  harder  to  know  one's  income  for  the  past 
year,  but  this  can  be  ascertained.  Sixthly,  they  are 
felt,  and  every  tax -payer  will  be  a  reformer  of  any  public 
abuse  that  may  exist.  Have  I  given  you  reasons 
enough,  or  shall  I  add  more?" 

"Enough,  I  think,"  said  the  merchant.  "But  do 
you  hold  that  the  Bible,  that  Christ,  commands  us  to 
adopt  any  one  or  all  of  these  taxes?" 

"Christ,  as  the  fulfiller  and  as  the  author  of  the  law 
and  the  prophets  which  forbid  oppression,"  the  minister 
said  reverently,  "prohibits  unjust  taxes.  And  by  for- 
bidding wicked  taxes  he  requires  us  to  adopt  just  and 
righteous  taxes." 

At  this  moment  two  gentlemen  came  in  to  talk 
to  Mr.  Smith  about  some  private  business,  and  the  com- 
pany broke  up. 

Capt.  Johnson  and  Bob  Dodson  walked  away  together. 
The  latter  said:  "I  am  glad  you  will  get  out  of  the 
assessment  business." 

"I  have  been  sick  of  it  for  some  time,  ever  since 


124  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

Judge  Per  Centage  swore  in  his  personalty  at  three  thou- 
sand four  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  and  forty-nine 
cents.  What  could  I  do?  If  I  tried  to  do  anything  I 
would  make  a  life-long  enemy  and  very  likely  fail." 

"And  the  parson  has  made  a  single-taxer  of  me,  I 
guess,"  said  the  carpenter.  "For  of  all  the  righteous 
taxes  he  mentioned  the  tax  on  land  values  seems  the 
best,  the  most  easily  levied  and  collected,  and  the  freest 
from  fraud." 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

IMPORT    DUTIES. 

ON  THE  next  day,  Sunday,  after  the  morning  service, 
Col.  Brown  accosted  the  Re\r.  Jacob  Jones  in  the  yard  of 
the  Covenant  Church:  "I  have  heard  from  my  young 
friends,  Miss  Jenny  Smith  and-  Mr.  Robinson,  about 
your  legal-theological  inquiries,  and  wish  you  to  come 
to  my  house  to-morrow  night." 

Mr.  Jones  promised  to  go.  On  arriving  he  found 
Miss  Jenny  Smith,  who  had  come  in  the  afternoon,  and 
Mr.  Robinson,  with  whom  our  readers  are  acquainted, 
and  Col.  and  Mrs.  Brown.  The  Colonel  was  a  skill- 
ful lawyer,  who  had  little  time  for  politics  and  who  was 
somewhat  skeptical.  Mrs.  Brown  was  fair,  fat  and 
forty. 

Mr.  Jones  was  so  full  of  his  subject  that  he  was  easily 
uncorked  and  announced  his  fourteenth  maxim  as 
follows : 

"Principle  14- — Import  duties  are  forbidden,  and  free 
trade  between  nations  is  commanded  by  God." 

"That  is  a  very  sweeping  statement,"  said  the  old 
lawyer.  "It  will  require  strong  proof  to  sustain  it." 

"And  strong  proof  shall  be  offered,"  replied  the 
minister.  "I  ask  none  of  you  to  accept  my  statement, 
but  I  do  ask  all  to  study  the  Bible,  and  the  other  means 
through  which  God  makes  his  will  known  to  us.  I 
offer  five  proofs  that  the  principle  is  true,  any  one  of 
which  ought  to  convince  any  candid  person." 

125 


126  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

" Proceed,"  said  Col.  Brown. 

"First,  it  is  a  deduction  from  the  doctrine  of  human 
brotherhood — a  truth  very  closely  connected  with  the 
doctrine  of  the  unity  of  God,  and  very  plainly  and  fre- 
quently asserted  in  the  Scripture,  taught  "by  physical  sci- 
ence and  confirmed  by  history  and  observation.  The 
unity  of  mankind  is  threefold.  There  is  a  unity  of 
blood :  all  men  belong  to  one  species ;  they  are  descended 
from  the  common  parents ;  by  birth  they  are  brothers. 
There  is  a  unity  of  disposition :  in  spite  of  the  difference 
in  language,  habits,  family  training,  religion,  etc., 
human  nature  is  the  same  the  world  round.  There  is 
an  economic  unity :  all  tribes  except  those  which  have 
degenerated  into  savages  have  wants  which  they  wish  to 
satisfy  by  exchanging  the  products  of  their  labor  for  the 
results  of  the  labor  of  others.  From  this  unity  flows 
the  brotherhood  of  all  men  of  all  lands  and  races.  It  is 
the  first  duty  of  brothers  to  help  each  other.  The  only 
way  that  men  separated  from  each  other  by  language, 
religion,  social  customs  and  distance  can  help  each  other 
is  by  exchanging  the  products  of  their  work,  that  is, 
exchanging  work  with  each  other.  Whatever  hinders 
this  exchange,  like  import  duties,  is  therefore  opposed 
to  the  will  of  our  common  Heavenly  Father." 

"Very  well  argued,"  said  the  old  lawyer. 

"I  see  one  flaw  in  it,"  the  young  lawyer  said. 
"Although  the  different  nations  are  prevented  from 
exchanging  goods  by  protective  duties,  yet  they  can 
exchange  ideas." 

"Nations  will  not  visit  each  other  merely  to  exchange 
ideas.  Commerce  is  necessary  to  disseminate  knowl- 
edge. When  an  end  is  commanded,  the  means  neces- 
sary to  that  end  are  enjoined.  If  I  hire  a  man  to  plow, 


IMPORT  DUTIES.  127 

it  is  his  duty  to  harness  the  horse.  If,  therefore,  it  is 
the  will  of  the  Heavenly  Father  that  the  nations  should 
communicate  to  each  other  their  discoveries  and  inven- 
tions, it  is  also  his  will  that  they  should  trade  freely." 

"The  means  are  commanded  with  the  end.  Isn't 
that  good  law,  Jack?"  Col.  Brown  demanded. 

4 'But  we  can  send  the  heathen  the  Gospel  even  if  we 
don't  trade  with  them,"  said  Miss  Jenny  Smith,  the 
secretary  of  the  Young  Ladies'  Missionary  Society. 

"How  will  the  missionaries  travel  if  there  is  no  com- 
merce?" asked  Mrs.  Brown. 

"By  refusing  to  trade,  or  by  hindering  trade,"  the 
parson  answered,  "we  tell  the  heathen  that  we  are  not 
willing  either  to  help  them  or  to  be  helped  by  them,  or, 
in  other  words,  that  we  are  not  industrially  their 
brothers.  When  the  missionaries  say  that  we  are 
brothers,  having  one  Lord  and  one  Savior,  whom  will 
they  believe?  Which  should  they  believe,  the  words  of  a 
few  missionaries  or  the  laws  of  a  great  nation?  For  the 
sake  of  the  conversion  of  the  heathen  our  tariff  should 
be  conformed  to  our  religious  theories.  The  products  of 
our  factories,  except  the  distilleries,  will  help  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel ;  but  the  heathen  cannot  buy  of 
us  unless  we  buy  of  them ;  and  import  duties  stop  or 
hinder  our  buying." 

"I'll  make  a  note  of  that,  with  your  permission,  par- 
son," said  Col.  Brown,  "and  perhaps  I'll  use  it  in  the 
next  campaign." 

"I  reckon  your  first  argument  will  stand,"  Mr.  Rob- 
inson remarked.  "What  is  the  second?" 

"Nature  declares  the  will  of  its  Creator.  On  survey- 
ing the  globe  we  find  that  each  country,  nay,  every 
province  of  each,  has  its  peculiarities  of  soil  and  climate, 


128  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

of  woods  and  mines,  and  that  each  nation  has  its 
peculiarities.  Each  land  and  each  people,  we  may 
infer,  is  especially  adapted  to  the  production  of  certain 
articles.  As  all  lands  now  raise  most  staple  articles,  we 
have  not  studied  the  subject  very  carefully,  but  we 
know  enough  not  to  plant  orange  groves  in  Tennessee 
nor  sow  rye  in  Florida.  We  find  that  these  different 
regions  are  connected  by  oceans,  rivers  and  railroads. 
Is  not  God's  will  very  plainly  revealed  by  these  circum- 
stances?" 

"I'll  make  a  note  of  that  too.  If  they  call  on  me  to 
speak  next  fall  I'll  make  the  Republicans  squirm,"  Col. 
Brown  exclaimed. 

Motioning  to  her  husband  to  be  quiet,  Mrs.  Brown 
said:  "Proceed,  please." 

"No  one  who  has  studied  the  character  of  Jehovah,  as 
it  is  revealed  in  the  Scriptures,  can  doubt  that  it  is  his 
wish  that  his  children,  the  different  nations  of  the  earth, 
should  live  in  peace  with  each  other.  The  means  are 
connected  with  the  end ;  he  who  desires  the  end  wishes 
the  means  too.  The  best  means  known  to  us  to  pro- 
mote peace  is  the  general  interchange  of  products.  Each 
land,  every  nation,  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  produc- 
tion of  some  article  desirable  to  all.  When  every  people 
is  dependent  upon  others  for  most  of  the  comforts  and 
conveniences  of  life,  and  when,  by  this  interchange, 
mutual  knowledge  and  kind  feelings  have  been  greatly 
increased,  both  the  comfort  and  the  sentiments  of  man- 
kind will  tend  to  prevent  war.  Tariffs,  whether  for 
revenue  or  for  protection,  check  this  mutual  exchange 
of  the  products  of  labor,  prevent  the  knowledge  it 
creates  and  hinder  the  growth  of  the  kind  feelings  which 
naturally  spring  from  mutual  knowledge  and  assistance. 


IMPORT  DUTIES.  129 

Unless  we  mistake  the  character  of  our  Father  in 
Heaven,  we  can,  therefore,  not  doubt  that  they  are 
abhorrent  to  him." 

4 'This  also  seems  sound  to  me,"  said  Miss  Jenny, 
"and  by  itself  establishes  your  principle.  But  you  have 
other  arguments." 

"Import  duties  are  unjust,"  replied  the  minister, 
"and  therefore  hateful  to  a  just  God." 

"I  don't  see  that,"  objected  the  Republican  lawyer. 

"Each  one  should  contribute  to  the  expenses  of  gov- 
ernment according  to  his  ability." 

"Yes,  I  grant  that,"  Jack  admitted. 

"Now,  import  duties  collect  from  every  one  accord- 
ing to  his  necessities.  Our  neighbors,  Mr.  Jackson 
and  Mr.  Hendrickson,  have  about  the  same  income,  but 
one  has  only  a  wife,  while  the  other  has  five  children 
and  an  invalid  sister  and  mother  to  support.  They 
ought  to  pay  equal  sums  to  the  government;  if  any 
difference  is  made,  Hendrickson,  who  has  the  large 
family  and  the  invalids,  should  pay  less  than  Jackson. 
But  through  indirect  taxation  he  pays  several  times  as 
much.  Can  any  one  suppose  that  this  is  not  an  abomi- 
nation to  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ?" 

"No  sensible  man  can,  I  am  sure,"  Miss  Jenny 
exclaimed.  "Please  proceed." 

"My  last  argument,"  Mr.  Jones  continued,  "is  that 
import  duties  are  so  mingled  with  political  corruption 
that  they  must  be  hateful  to  a  holy  God.  This  is  espe- 
cially true  of  protective  duties.  The  temptation  is  too 
strong  for  human  nature.  It  cannot  be  resisted. 
While  many  people  in  England,  in  the  early  part  of  the 
century,  were  starving,  the  land-owners,  to  maintain  and 
increase  their  rents,  kept  up  the  duties  on  'corn'  or  wheat. 


130  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

Last  summer,  when  the  times  were  very  hard,  when 
multitudes  had  no  work,  the  Republican  party,  which 
contains  as  good  people  as  there  are  on  earth,  adopted  a 
new  tariff  which  would  raise  the  cost  of  many  of  the 
necessaries  of  life;  and  it  was  done  so  as  to  favor  trusts." 

"I  do  not  want  to  hear  that  party  defamed,"  excitedly 
cried  the  young  lawyer.  "My  father  was  a  charter 
member  of  it.  My  mother  thought  more  of  it  than  of 
anything  else,  except  her  church.  She  was,  let  me  tell 
you,  the  best  of  women.  How  patient  she  was  during 
her  long  and  painful  illness!" 

"I  should  not  think  that  any  real  man,"  Miss  Jenny 
interrupted  him,  "would  prefer  the  interests  of  such  a 
party  to  the  welfare  of  his  country  and  the  truth  of  God. 
My  father  has  told  me  that  it  deluged  the  country  in 
blood ;  and  now  it  is  rotten  with  corruption  from  core 
to  circumference." 

"Not  half  as  bad  as  the  Democratic  party — the  party 
of  Jeff  Davis  and  Andersonville,"  the  lawyer  retorted. 
"My  mother  suffered  so  much  and  so  long  and  so 
uncomplainingly. ' ' 

Jack  Eobinson  had  not  seen  Miss  Jenny  alone  since 
they  parted  at  her  gate  on  the  previous  Friday.  Now 
they  were  very  plainly  incensed  at  each  other.  He 
thought  that  she  had  spoken  slightingly  of  his  mother 
and  of  the  patience  with  which  she  had  borne  the  pains 
of  her  protracted  illness — an  offense  which  no  man  can 
pardon;  and  her  womanly  feelings  were  shocked,  that  a 
leader  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  should  prefer 
the  interests  of  a  corrupt  party  to  the  truths  of  the 
Bible  and  the  happiness  and  welfare  of  mankind.  Mr. 
Robinson  was  at  fault;  for  he  knew,  as  a  lawyer,  that 
the  virtues  of  his  excellent  parents  were  not  competent 


IMPORT  DUTIES.  131 

witnesses  to  prove  the  good  character  of  protective  tariffs 
until  he  had  proved  the  connection  between  the  two. 

After  an  awkward  silence,  Col.  Brown  said:  "Your 
views,  Brother  Jones,  are  rather  extreme;  but  they 
afford  a  broader  moral  foundation  for  the  Democratic 
party  to  stand  on." 

"If  true,  they  condemn  the  Democratic  party  as  well  as 
the  Eepublican,  though  perhaps  less  severely,"  Mr. 
Jones  answered.  "The  principle  forbids  protective 
tariffs,  the  Republican  doctrine;  tariffs  for  revenue, 
with  incidental  protection,  which  is  the  Democratic 
doctrine ;  and  tariffs  merely  for  revenue,  which  is  the 
English  policy." 

"I  fear  that  you  are  somewhat  of  a  crank,"  Col. 
Brown  responded. 

"I  am  not  careful  as  to  that,"  rejoined  the  minister; 
"for  I  say  with  Paul,  'Let  God  be  true,  but  every  man  a 
liar.'  My  appeal  is  to  God.  His  will  about  taxation 
must  be  wise  and  good.  It  is  not  surprising  that  men 
should  have  fallen  into  error  on  this  subject.  Although 
the  work  of  Christ  had  been  described  by  the  prophets, 
there  was  not  a  man  on  earth  when  he  came,  unless  it 
was  John  the  Baptist,  that  understood  his  sacrificial  and 
atoning  work.  If  the  world  has  now  lost  sight  of 
another  part  of  Christ's  work,  it  should  not  amaze  us. 
He  said:  "He  that  loveth  father  or  mother  more  than 
me  is  not  worthy  of  me;  and  he  that  loveth  son  or 
daughter  more  than  me  is  not  worthy  of  me.'  So  now 
we  must  say  that  he  that  loveth  his  political  party, 
Democratic  or  Republican,  or  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  or  his  inherited  political  principles,  more 
than  he  loves  Christ,  is  not  worthy  of  him  and  cannot 
be  his  disciple." 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

ABOUT   MOKEY. 

"VEKY  few  church  members,  I  think,  could  stand 
that  test,"  said  Mr.  Eobinson. 

"All  real  ones  could,"  Miss  Jenny  rejoined.  It  is 
likely  that  the  lawyer's  estimate  of  church  members  was 
more  accurate  than  the  young  lady's. 

Mrs.  Brown,  who  had  gone  out,  returned  with  five 
saucers  of  ice-cream  and  a  plate  of  cake  on  a  waiter. 
While  the  company  was  enjoying  this  unexpected  treat, 
Miss  Jenny  devoted  herself  to  Mr.  Jones,  and  Mr.  Rob- 
inson talked  to  Col.  Brown.  When  all  had  returned 
their  saucers  to  the  waiter,  Col.  Brown  requested  the 
minister  to  continue,  as  it  was  still  early. 

"A  subject  very  closely  related  to  taxation,"  said  he, 
"is  the  currency — money." 

"How  so?"  Jack  Robinson  asked. 

"Because  every  state  which  collects  and  disburses  a 
large  revenue  must,  in  doing  it,  create  the  currency  for 
the  people."  The  minister  continued:  "If  the  United 
States  would  accept  certificates  of  deposit  of  grain 
in  New  York  and  Chicago  elevators,  or  copies  of 
Webster's  spelling-book,  or  glass  beads,  in  payment  of 
taxes  and  postage,  within  three  months  they  would  be 
current  coin  in  every  city  and  county  between  the  two 
MIS." 

There  is  little  doubt  about  that,"  said  Col.  Brown. 
132 


ABOUT  MONEY.  133 

.  "But  they  could  be  so  easily  counterfeited,"  Mrs. 
Brown,  who  had  returned  to  the  parlor,  objected. 

"For  that  reason  they  would  be  an  inconvenient 
currency,"  her  husband  replied.  "But  they  would 
circulate  if  they  would  buy  postage  stamps  and  pay 
duties." 

"But  there  is  no  intrinsic  value  in  glass  beads,"  Mr. 
Robinson  remarked. 

"Nor  in  spelling-books,  nor  in  grain  certificates,  nor 
in  bank  notes,  nor  in  greenbacks,  nor  in  gold  or  silver 
coin,"  said  the  minister,  "so  long  as  they  are  used  as 
money.  The  glass  beads  could  be  worn  as  ornaments, 
the  paper  could  be  used  to  paper  a  room,  the  gold  could 
be  melted  into  jewelry,  the  spellers  could  be  used  in 
school,  and  they  would  have  an  intrinsic  value,  a  use  in 
and  of  themselves,  while  so  used.  They  could  all  be 
reconverted  into  money,  but  their  intrinsic  utility  would 
at  once  cease.  Utility  is  always  intrinsic;  things  are 
useful  or  useless  in  and  of  themselves,  because  of  the 
qualities  they  have  or  lack.  But  value  is  never  intrinsic, 
but  always  extrinsic ;  for  it  depends  upon  the  relation 
of  the  article,  in  the  opinion  of  men,  to  other  articles." 

"Very  well  put,"  exclaimed  Col.  Brown.  "The 
ambiguity  in  the  word  'value,'  Jack,  misleads  old  men 
as  well  as  young  men." 

"What  is  money?"  demanded  Miss  Jenny. 

"It  is  a  tool  used  within  the  limits  of  a  state  or  a 
nation  for  the  exchange  of  property,"  the  minister 
explained.  "It  serves  as  a  tool  because  it  is  used  as  a 
representative  of  property,  because  it  can  be  kept,  and 
can  be  subdivided  and  reunited." 

"Please  explain,"  said  Mrs.  Brown. 

"My  neighbor,  Sam  Johnson,  last  August  had  a  hun- 


134  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

dred  watermelons.  He  wanted  to  get  some  dry  goods. 
Mr.  Smith  had  the  goods,  but  he  did  not  want  a  hun- 
dred melons;  so  he  sold  his  melons  and  bought  the 
goods.  That  is,  he  exchanged  the  melons  for  dry 
goods,  and  he  did  it  by  means  of  money.  If  there 
had  been  no  money,  he  could  not  have  made  the  ex- 
change." 

"I  understand  now,"  said  Mrs.  Brown. 

"If  there  were  no  money,"  the  minister  continued, 
"Mr.  Smith  would  have  to  raise  melons  or  do  without 
them,  and  Sam  would  have  to  weave  his  own  cloth.  In 
other  words,  money  is  essential  to  civilization.  Without 
it  we  would  be  barbarians,  having  only  such  food,  cloth- 
ing, furniture,  books,  pictures,  as  we  could  produce  our- 
selves. Without  it,  co-operation,  mutual  helpfulness 
would  be  very  difficult,  almost  impossible.  Money  is 
the  soul  of  civilization,  the  distinction  between  the 
civilized  and  the  savage. 

"Money  can  serve  as  a  tool  for  exchanging  property 
only  because  it  is  a  representative  of  property.  It  is 
honest  only  when  it  represents  property  honestly.  If  at 
one  time  the  same  amount  of  money  is  the  equivalent  of 
more  property,  and  at  another  time  of  less  property,  the 
currency  is  unsound  and  dishonest.  In  other  words, 
only  when  general  prices  are  stable  is  the  money 
honest. 

"When  the  price  of  some  particular  article  varies  it 
indicates  a  variation  in  the  supply;  if  low,  that  it  is 
large,  and  if  high,  that  it  is  small.  The  changes  in  the 
price  are  beneficial,  for  a  low  price  encourages  and 
enables  the  people  to  use  an  abundance,  and  a  high 
price  keeps  a  scarcity  from  being  turned  into  a  famine. 

"But  when  the  prices  of  all  commodities  either  rise 


ABOUT  MONEY.  135 

or  fall,  it  indicates  a  change  in  the  quantity  or  value  of 
money,  for  money  can  vary  in  value.  When  general 
prices  rise  it  indicates  a  depreciating  currency;  when 
they  fall,  an  appreciating  currency.  These  changes  in 
general  prices,  in  the  value  of  money,  are  great  national 
sins  which  cry  to  the  God  of  justice  for  vengeance. 
The  greatest  of  these  is  an  appreciating  currency,  a  rise  in 
the  value  of  money  and  a  fall  in  the  value  of  com- 
modities. God  seldom  fails  to  punish  the  people  guilty 
of  this  wickedness  with  hard  times,  poverty,  pauperism 
and  all  their  brood. ' ' 

"Why  do  you  call  these  changes  in  general  prices,  or, 
if  you  choose,  in  the  value  of  money,  sins?"  asked  Mrs. 
Brown.  "They  are  something  the  people  cannot  help." 

"Because  of  a  fundamental  principle,"  replied  the 
minister,  "which  may  be  stated  as  follows: 

"Principle  15. — Every  government  should  provide 
honest  money  for  its  own  people. ' ' 

"The  value  of  money,  like  that  of  everything  else,  is 
governed  by  the  supply  and  demand,"  Mr.  Jones 
explained.  "When  the  supply  of  any  article  diminishes 
and  the  demand  remains  stationary  or  increases,  its  value 
rises,  and  when  the  supply  increases  it  falls.  Money  is 
no  exception  to  this  law.  When  general  prices  rise  the 
government  should  make  less  money,  and  when  they  fall 
it  should  make  more  money." 

"The  government  can't  make  money,"  exclaimed  Mr. 
Kobinson,  dogmatically. 

"Excuse  me.  If  the  government  collects  and  disburses 
large  revenues,  it  can  and  does  and  must  make  money," 
Mr.  Jones  replied,  meekly.  "It  must  decide  for  itself, 


136  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

no  one  can  decide  for  it,  what  it  will  receive  for  taxes 
and  its  other  dues,  and  what  it  will  pay  for  services; 
and  whatever  it  receives  will  circulate,  will  be  the  cur- 
rency of  the  people." 

"The  parson  has  you  there,  Jack,"  Col.  Brown 
exclaimed. 

"  'A  man  convinced  against  his  will  is  of  the  same 
opinion  still,'  "  Miss  Jenny  quoted  in  a  whisper. 

Mr.  Eobinson  heard  her  and  it  did  not  soothe  him 
any,  and  he  said  more  dogmatically:  "It  will  be  fiat 
money." 

"If  I  give  an  order  on  myself  for  ten  bushels  of  corn, 
it  is  good  for  the  corn;  it  is  worth  the  corn,  although, 
of  course,  it  may  be  called  a  fiat  order.  The  economic 
service  or  work  done  by  any  good  government  in  pre- 
serving the  public  peace  is  the  greatest  and  most  valu- 
able to  the  people;  for  without  it  all  other  work  is 
impossible.  If  the  United  States  gives  an  order  on  itself 
for  one  dollar's  worth  of  such  work,  it  is  good  for  that 
work;  it  is  worth  it.  Call  it  fiat,  if  you  choose;  but  the 
work  the  government  does  in  doing  justice  is  worth  what 
it  costs;  if  it  is  not,  there  is  need  of  reform." 

"How  shall  it  be  known  whether  general  prices  are 
rising  or  falling?"  Mrs.  Brown  asked. 

"The  wholesale  prices  of  all  the  leading  commodities r" 
her  husband  answered,  "are  published  every  morning, 
and  have  been  for  a  hundred  years." 

"The  work  of  keeping  general  prices  steady,"  the 
minister  added,  "would  be  purely  mathematical.  The 
future  comptroller  of  the  currency  would  be  as  free  or 
freer  from  corrupting  influences  than  the  present  one. 
At  the  end  of  each  week  or  month  he  would  know  from 
the  reports  of  hundreds  of  produce  exchanges  and  whole- 


ABOUT  MONEY.  137 

sale  markets  whether  general  prices  were  rising  or  fall- 
ing, and  could  judge  whether  the  issue  of  money  should 
cease  or  should  be  enlarged.  After  the  principle  was 
adopted  the  work  would  be  almost  as  mechanical  as  that 
of  the  weather  bureau." 

"Why  is  the  failure  to  provide  an  honest  currency  a 
national  sin?"  asked  Miss  Jenny. 

''Because  of  cash  transactions  and  because  of  deferred 
payments,"  the  minister  answered.  "The  customary 
retail  prices  do  not  closely  follow  variations  in  the.  value 
of  money,  but  lag  behind  it  or  precede  it.  If,  there- 
fore, the  nation  allows  its  money  to  fluctuate  in  value,  it 
robs  either  the  buyer  or  seller  every  time  a  purchase  is 
made. 

"The  wrong  it  does  in  deferred  payments  is  much 
greater.  John  Doe  agrees  to  pay  Richard  Roe  five  hun- 
dred dollars  after  five  years.  That  is,  he  agrees  to  give 
him  after  five  years  the  quantity  of  general  commodities 
which  five  hundred  dollars  will  buy  at  the  time  the  con- 
tract is  made.  At  that  time,  we  will  say,  the  five  hun- 
dred dollars  will  buy  one  average  horse,  a  hundred 
bushels  of  wheat,  a  thousand  pounds  of  lint  cotton,  fif- 
teen hundred  yards  of  domestic  and  a  set  of  parlor  furni- 
ture, or  other  commodities  for  which  these  will  exchange. 
Before  the  payment  is  made  the  government  or  nation 
reduces  the  amount  and  increases  the  value  of  money,  so 
that  five  hundred  dollars  will  buy  two  average  horses, 
two  hundred  bushels  of  wheat,  two  thousand  pounds  of 
cotton,  thirty  hundred,  yards  of  domestic  and  two  sets  of 
parlor  furniture,  or  other  goods  for  which  these  can  be 
exchanged.  The  wickedness  of  this  act  is  indescrib- 
able. Satan  himself  would  blush,  if  he  could  blush,  if 
he  were  guilty  of  it.  The  state  has  changed  the  con- 


138  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

tract  between  John  Doe  and  Richard  Roe,  and  the 
contract  made  by  it  for  them  is  entirely  unlike  that 
made  by  themselves.  Then  it  adds  usury  to  the  amount 
it  has  contracted  for  John  Doe  to  pay.  And  finally 
it  uses  all  its  powers  to  force  John  Doe  to  give  to  Rich- 
ard Roe  the  value  which  he  never  promised  to  pay,  and 
interest  on  it." 

"The  contract  was  to  pay  the  money,"  Col.  Brown 
observed. 

"Neither  John  Doe  nor  Richard  Roe  want  money," 
the  minister  replied.  "They  both  want  what  the  money 
will  buy.  Their  confidence  in  the  government,  that  it 
would  preserve  unaltered  the  value  or  purchasing  power 
of  the  money,  makes  the  action  of  the  government  in 
changing  its  value  more  base ;  for  it  has  betrayed  the 
confidence  reposed  in  it  by  the  people." 

Opening  the  big  Bible  that  lay  on  the  center  table, 
and  turning  to  Amos  8:  4-8,  the  minister  said:  "Here  is 
a  passage  which  illustrates  my  meaning.  The  ancient 
money  was  not  minted,  but  weighed.  The  shekel  was 
Jewish  money.  Listen: 

"  'Hear  this,  0  ye  that  swallow  up  the  needy  even  to 
make  the  poor  of  the  land  to  fail,  .  .  .  making  the 
ephah  small  and  the  shekel  great.  .  .  .  Shall  not  the 
land  tremble  for  this  and  every  one  mourn  that  dwelleth 
therein?' 

"This  fall  in  general  prices  or  rise  in  the  value  of 
money  was  the  work  of  those  who  used  false  balances  to 
weigh  the  shekel.  But  it  was  unchecked  by  the  govern- 
ment. Because  of  it  all  that  dwelt  in^he  land  mourned 
as  our  people  have  mourned  since  1893,  and  Israel  went 
into  captivity. 

"As  I  have  the  Bible  open  I  will  read  some  other 


ABOUT  MONEY.  139 

passages.  Money  is  the  weight  or  balance  or  measure 
by  which  all  work  and  goods  are  compared  with  each 
other. 

44  4A  false  balance  is  abomination  to  the  Lord:  but  a 
just  weight  is  his  delight.' — Proverbs  11 :  1. 

4  4A  just  weight  and  balance  are  the  Lord's:  all  the 
weights  of  the  bag  are  his  work.  It  is  an  abomination 
to  kings  to  commit  wickedness :  for  the  throne  is  estab- 
lished by  righteousness.' — Proverbs  16: 11-12. 

44  4Ye  shall  do  no  unrighteousness  in  judgment  [gov- 
ernment], in  meteyard,  in  weight  or  in  measure.  Just 
balances,  just  weights  and  a  just  ephah  shall  ye  have. 
I  am  the  Lord. '—Leviticus  19:  35-37. 

4 'The  Lord  notices  our  business  transactions  and  is 
displeased  by  any  fraud.  The  greatest  fraud  is  for  the 
government  to  alter  the  value  of  money,  as  our  govern- 
ment has  been  doing  and  is  doing  now.  We  may  be 
sure  that  our  sin  will  find  us  out,  that  the  Lord  will 
visit  us  for  it." 

44  You  have  said  nothing,  Parson,  about  the  legal  ten- 
der quality  of  money,"  said  Col.  Brown. 

44 It  flows  from  its  nature,"  was  the  reply.  44What  is 
good  enough  to  pay  to  the  nation  must  be  good  enough 
to  pay  to  any  citizen.  As  long  as  the  state  collects  debts 
for  its  citizens  it  must  define  lawful  money." 

4kBut  our  money  should  be  equal  to  gold, "  Mr.  Robin- 
son affirmed. 

44 Why?"  asked  the  minister. 

44Because — why,  because  it  should  be." 

44 That  is  said  to  be  a  woman's  reason,"  Miss  Jenny 
remarked. 

44 For  the  sake  of  international  commerce,"  Mr. 
Robinson  replied. 

4 'First,  I  remark  that  there  is  no  international  money. 


140  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

Gold  coin,  as  soon  as  it  crosses  the  boundary,  is  no  longer 
a  legal  tender.  It  is  not  counted,  but  weighed.  It  is 
regarded  simply  as  bullion.  And  secondly,  only  about 
one  out  of  a  million  of  our  business  transactions  is  with 
foreigners.  Shall  the  government  compel  all  the  other 
transactions  to  be  more  or  less  dishonest  for  the  sake  of 
the  millionth  one?  Foreign  commerce  is  only  barter ; 
money,  as  such,  does  not  enter  into  it." 

"But  gold  is  more  stable  in  value,"  Mr.  Robinson 
said. 

"I  don't  agree  with  you,"  Col.  Brown  said.  "The 
price  of  silver  and  the  price  of  commodities  in  general 
have  kept  together  of  late  years." 

"But  our  currency  should  be  redeemable  in  gold," 
Mr.  Robinson  asserted. 

"Why?"  After  pausing  in  vain  for  an  answer,  Mr. 
Jones  added:  "There  is  no  good  reason.  General  prices 
are  a  surer  standard  of  value.  And  for  government  to 
make  its  currency  redeemable  in  gold  is  to  abdicate  its 
duty  to  provide  honest  money  for  its  own  people,  because 
the  value  of  gold  is  determined  partly  by  foreign  nations. 
Moreover,  the  necessity  of  redeeming  in  gold  helps  the 
money  sharks  to  contract  or  expand  the  currency  and 
thus  alter  its  value  and  rob  the  people.  As  long  as  the 
government  undertakes  to  redeem  its  money  in  gold  it 
will  be  a  partner  in  all  the  villainies  of  the  stock 
exchange." 

"If  our  money  is  not  redeemable  in  gold  we  will  have 
an  inflated  and  depreciated  currency  like  the  Continental 
bills  and  the  Confederate  notes,"  Mr.  Robinson  argued 
stoutly. 

"Not  a  good  demurrer,  Jack,"  said  the  old  lawyer. 
"The  Revolutionary  fathers  and  the  men  of  the  Southern 


ABOUT  MONEY.  141 

Confederacy  were  not  trying  to  establish  an  honest  cur- 
rency, but  were  sacrificing  everything  on  the  altar  of 
independence.  A  nation  that  can  keep  its  bonds  at  par 
can  keep  its  currency  at  par." 

"It  can  keep  the  currency  at  par  much  more  easily 
than  its  bonds,"  the  minister  said,  "because  its  people 
are  obliged  to  have  currency  and  are  not  compelled  to 
buy  bonds.  The  government  can  discredit  any  currency 
by  simply  refusing  to  accept  it  for  taxes.  Thus  the 
United  States  depreciated  its  own  greenbacks  between 
1862  and  1866  by  refusing  to  accept  them  for  import 
duties." 

"At  par  with  what?"  sneered  Mr.  Robinson. 

"At  par  with  wheat  and  cotton,  with  meat  and  meal, 
with  food  and  clothing,  with  men's  blood  and  women's 
tears ;  for  men  will  watch  and  work,  aye,  and  fight  too, 
if  need  be,  for  anything  that  the  government  will  accept 
for  taxes : provided  always,"  Mr.  Jones  added,  "that  the 
government  does  not  issue  more  notes  than  it  can  redeem 
in  a  reasonable  time  by  doing  justice  or  by  other  service. 

"Every  government  is  compelled  to  create  a  currency 
for  its  own  people  by  deciding  what  it  will  receive  for 
taxes.  Every  government  that  fails  to  make  this  cur- 
rency honest,  or  that  delegates  the  power  of  making 
money  to  private  persons  or  corporations,  or  that  sur- 
renders the  control  of  the  value  of  its  currency  to  foreign 
nations  by  making  it  redeemable  in  gold  or  silver,  com- 
mits a  grievous  sin  against  Jehovah,  to  whom  a  false 
balance  is  an  abomination." 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

THE    SILVER    QUESTION. 

"!F  IT  is  not  too  late,"  Mrs.  Brown  said,  "I  would 
like  for  you  to  tell  me  about  the  free  coinage  of  silver." 

"That  subject  does  not  fall  into  the  line  of  the  pres- 
ent discussions,"  Mr.  Robinson  objected. 

"Why  not?"  Miss  Jenny  demanded. 

"Because  these  discussions  proceed  on  a  moral  and 
religious  basis,"  Mr.  Robinson  answered,  "and  the  free 
coinage  of  silver  is  a  purely  political  question,  and  the 
leading  issue  between  the  two  great  parties." 

"Cannot  purely  political  questions  be  looked  upon 
from  the  standpoint  of  morality  and  religion?"  Miss 
Jenny  asked  again.  "Can  one  political  party  or  two 
remove  any  subject  from  the  dominion  of  God  by  put- 
ting it  into  their  platforms?  Are  you  of  Senator  Ingalls' 
opinion,  that  the  ten  commandments  have  nothing  to  do 
with  politics?" 

"No,  I  would  not  go  that  far,"  replied  Mr.  Robinson. 
"But  it  seems  to  me  irreverent  to  drag  the  Bible  and 
religion  into  a  question  so  fiercely  disputed* as  the  free 
coinage  of  silver." 

"Is  the  sun  defiled  by  shining  into  polluted  places  and 
purifying  them?"  again  demanded  Miss  Jenny.  "The 
more  musty  a  room  is,  the  more  it  needs  the  sunlight. 
Just  so  the  question  of  the  free  coinage  of  silver  needs 

142 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION.  143 

the  sunshine  of  God's  truth  because  it  has  been  debated 
solely  as  a  matter  of  expediency?" 

"That  is  the  Democratic  position,  but  we  Republicans 
look  upon  sound  currency  as  a  point  of  national  honor." 

4 'If  you  are  willing  to  call  upon  national  honor  to 
throw  light  upon  the  question,  why  do  you  refuse  to  allow 
the  light  of  God  to  fall  upon  it?"  Miss  Jenny  responded. 

"National  honor  and  righteousness  are  the  same,"  the 
lawyer  answered. 

"Are  they?"  the  minister  asked.  "Righteousness  is 
humble  and  looks  up  to  God;  honor  is  proud  and  looks 
down  on  its  neighbors.  Righteousness  leads  frequently 
to  repentance;  honor  boasts  of  its  self -consistency; 
righteousness  forsakes  the  faults  of  the  past;  honor 
clings  to  them  and  defends  them.  National  honor  has 
shed  much  blood  and  caused  great  misery.  Honor  is  a 
nobler  god  than  expediency  or  Mammon;  but  to  follow 
national  honor  often  leads  us  to  forsake  God." 
.  "I  have  no  objection  to  Mr.  Jones  discussing  this 
question  as  a  citizen,"  said  Mr.  Robinson.  "He  has  the 
same  right  as  any  other  citizen  to  have  and  express  an 
opinion  about  it." 

"If  I  cannot  discuss  it  as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  of 
Christ,  as  a  student  of  God's  will,"  replied  the  preacher, 
"I  shall  not  talk  about  it  at  all.  And  I  shall  expect  my 
opinion  to  prevail  over  all  others." 

"Excuse  me,"  Mr.  Robinson  objected,  "but  is  not 
that  rather  dictatorial,  rather — rather  popish?" 

"Not  at  all.  It  would  be  if  I  tried  to  force  others  to 
embrace  my  opinions  by  civil  or  ecclesiastical  pains  or 
penalties.  But  I  do  not  desire  any  such  aid.  My  Lord 
came  into  the  world  to  teach  men,  to  help  them  to  learn 
truth — all  truth  necessary  and  useful  to  us.  He  went 


144  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

away,  died,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  might  come  to  con- 
vince the  world  of  sin  and  of  righteousness  and  of  judg- 
ment. To  expect  the  Holy  Spirit  to  convince  the  world 
of  the  great  sin  it  has  committed  in  the  demonetization 
of  silver  is  not  arrogance,  but  faith  in  God ;  and  if  the 
Holy  Spirit  is  stronger  than  party  spirit  and  national 
honor,  it  is  the  truest  wisdom." 

"Discuss  it,  then,  any  way  you  please.  I  don't  care  a 
fig  how  you  talk,"  Mr.  Robinson  said  sulkily. 

Miss  Jenny  looked  very  much  pained  at  his  ill  humor. 
He  was  falling  rapidly  in  her  estimation. 

"We  are  all  agreed,  then,"  said  Mrs.  Brown  pleas- 
antly. "I  am  anxious  to  hear  your  opinion." 

"I  will  put  it  in  the  form  of  a  maxim,"  the  minister 
replied. 

"Principle  16. — The  demonetization  of  silver  was  a 
great  sin  against  God. ' ' 

"Is  there  anything  about  it  in  the  Bible?"  asked  Col. 
Brown. 

"There  is  not,"  was  the  reply.  "None  of  the  old 
nations  committed  this  great  wickedness.  But  it  is  a 
great  injustice,  and  all  the  passages  which  forbid  injus- 
tice forbid  it." 

"Why  is  it  unjust?  That  is  what  I  want  to  know." 
Mrs.  Brown  was  the  speaker. 

"One-half  of  the  world's  money  before  1873  was  sil- 
ver,"  returned  her  husband.  "By  demonetizing  silver 
the  supply  of  money  was  decreased  and  its  value 
increased  to  the  profit  of  those  holding  investments  the 
principal  and  interest  of  which  were  payable  in  money." 

"Moreover,  the  law  of  God  requires  that  the  will  of 
the  people  be  obeyed,"  the  minister  continued.  "The 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION.  145 

great  majority  of  the  American  people  wish  the  free 
coinage  of  silver.  They  may  be  wrong;  the  presump- 
tion is  that  they  are  right;  but,  right  or  wrong,  God 
commands,  'Hearken  unto  the  voice  of  the  people  in  all 
that  they  say. '  Not  until  this  command  is  obeyed  will 
the  currency  be  stable  or  confidence  be  fully  restored." 

1  'Why  do  you  say  that  the  great  majority  desire  the 
free  coinage  of  silver?"  Mr.  Robinson  asked.  "We  beat 
the  advocates  of  free  coinage  in  1896." 

"Because  all  the  parties  except  fragments  of  the  Demo- 
cratic and  Prohibition  parties  advocated  free  coinage  in 
1896.  The  difference  between  the  two  leading  parties 
was  that  one  favored  it  conditionally  and  the  other 
unconditionally. 

"The  will  of  God  in  regard  to  the  free  coinage  of 
silver  may  be  learned  from  nature  and  from  history. 
The  Creator  is  revealed  in  creation  as  the  character  of 
an  author  is  revealed  in  his  book.  The  qualities  of  the 
two  royal  metals  show  that  their  Maker  intended  them 
to  be  used  alike  so  far  as  coinage  is  concerned.  They 
resemble  each  other  so  closely  in  the  qualities  that  fit 
them  for  coinage  that  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
Creator  intended  and  wishes  them  to  be  used  alike ;  that 
it  is  God's  law  that  if  gold  is  freely  coined  silver  should 
be.  Both,  when  pure,  are  of  one  grade,  wherever  found ; 
there  are  not  different  kinds  of  pure  gold  or  pure  silver, 
as  there  are  of  many  other  metals.  Neither  rusts.  Both 
can  be  divided  and  reunited  without  loss.  Both  are 
rare.  Every  quality  that  fits  one  for  coinage  adapts  the 
other  to  it  also.  Both  would  be  treated  alike  at  the 
mint  if  men  feared  God. 

"From  God's  providence  also  we  may  learn  his  will,  as 
a  man's  deeds  reveal  his  character.  But  caution  should 


146  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

be  used  in  trying  to  find  the  divine  law  from  history, 
because  the  free  acts  of  men  are  mingled  with  it. 
When,  however,  a  truth  is  written  in  the  history  of 
every  land  and  every  age,  we  should  not  shrink  from 
embracing  it.  Thus,  when  we  find  that  there  have 
always  and  everywhere  been  about  as  many  women  as 
men,  we  must  conclude  that  monogamy  is  the  law  of 
God,  and  that  polygamy  is  a  sin  against  him.  So,  also, 
when  we  notice  that  previous  to  1873  both  gold  and 
silver  were  used  as  money  throughout  the  world  without 
any  evil  results,  and  that  the  variations  in  their  value  as 
bullion  when  compared  with"  each  other  were  slow  and 
caused  no  harm,  we  must  decide  that  bimetallism  is 
God's  law  and  that  the  demonetization  of  silver  is  wicked 
rebellion  against  God." 

' '  Such  words  do  not  become  a  minister  in  speaking  of 
a  policy  adopted  by  most  Christian  nations,"  said  Mr. 
Robinson. 

"Are  they  not  truthful?"  Miss  Jenny  retorted,  and, 
addressing  Mr.  Jones,  she  asked  further:  "How  did 
the  nations  fall  into  this  sin?" 

"Various  events  helped  to  deceive  them,"  was  the 
minister's  reply.  "The  example  of  England  was  one. 
For  nearly  sixty  years  it  had  been  nominally  under  a 
monometallic  standard;  and  it  was  not  noticed  that 
while  silver  could  be  exchanged  for  gold  across  the 
channel  it  practically  had  bimetallism.  In  the  United 
States  neither  gold  nor  silver  was  in  circulation  in  1873 ; 
the  silver  dollar  was  worth,  as  bullion,  a  little  more  than 
the  gold  dollar,  so  that  it  seemed  unlikely  that  much 
silver  would  be  brought  to  the  United  States  mint  to  be 
coined.  Yet  in  spite  of  this  it  was  only  demonetized  by 
an  oversight.  Other  nations  were  alarmed  and  thought 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION.  147 

themselves  compelled,  in  self  -  defense,  to  demonetize 
silver. 

"There  was  also  a  great  force  behind  the  movement. 
Every  creditor  would  be  benefited  by  the  decrease  in  the 
amount  of  money  of  final  redemption  and  the  increase  in 
its  value.  The  rich  govern  the  world. " 

"There  are  many  good  people,  Christian  people,  be- 
nevolent people,  among  the  rich.  How  could  they  agree 
to  it,  or  consent  to  profit  by  it?"  Miss  Jenny  inquired. 

"Its  effects  appeared  gradually.  They  seemed  to  be 
the  results  of  natural  law — of  inventions,  discoveries, 
social  and  industrial  progress — and  not  the  effects  of 
human  wickedness.  It  is  human  nature  for  those  hav- 
ing fixed  incomes,  from  investments  or  from  salaries,  to 
rejoice  in  low  prices.  Moreover,  no  individual  action 
will  remedy  the  crime.  If  a  purchaser  pays  more  than 
the  market  price  he  benefits  only  the  seller.  All  these 
causes  combine  to  befog  the  intellect.  A  lie  repeated 
often  enough  and  in  forms  enough  and  by  a  great  num- 
ber of  persons  will  be  believed.  The  daily  papers  are 
mercenary ;  their  great  expenses  make  them  dependent. 
An  average  citizen  who  has  read  every  morning  for  ten 
years  that  gold  is  the  only  metal  fit  to  coin  legal -tender 
money  out  of  cannot  be  greatly  blamed  for  believing  it 
at  last." 

"You  spoke  of  the  demonetization  of  silver  as  a 
greater  wickedness  than  was  known  to  ancient  nations?" 
Col.  Brown  said,  interrogatively. 

"In  former  ages,  when  power  wished  to  oppress,  it  used 
force,  "was  Mr.  Jones'  reply;  "now  it  uses  fraud  and 
falsehood.  The  necessity  of  employing  them  is  a  com- 
pliment to  our  age.  But  it  is  meaner  both  to  rob  and 
lie  than  it  is  merely  to  rob." 


148  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

"  'Fraud,'  'falsehood,'  'rob,'  'lie,'  these  words  shall 
never,  with  my  consent,  be  applied  to  the  Republican 
party,"  Mr.  Robinson  cried.  "If  the  Bible  commands 
bimetallism,  I  shall  turn  skeptic." 

"The  platform  of  the  Republicans  approves  it  condi- 
tionally, Jack,"  dryly  remarked  Col.  Brown. 

"If  the  Bible  indorses  Bryanism,  socialism  and 
anarchy,"  repeated  Mr.  Robinson,  "I  will  be  an  agnos- 
tic. If  God  does  it,  I'll— 

"Are  you  not  thoroughly  ashamed  of  yourself?" 
broke  in  Miss  Jenny,  highly  indignant. 

Mrs.  Brown  acted  as  a  peacemaker  for  the  second 
time,  and  asked  quietly:  "What  should  we  do  about  it?" 

"Repent  of  the  sin,  convert,  turn  to  God;  forsake  this 
abominable  wickedness  and  obey  God's  law,"  replied 
the  minister.  "This  is  the  only  way  to  treat  sin.  There 
is  no  other  safety.  This  is  the  highest  wisdom." 

"What?  Without  waiting  for  the  action  of  other 
nations?"  Col.  Brown  asked,  winking  at  Mr0  Robinson. 

"Suppose  the  burglar,  the  drunkard,  the  profane 
swearer,  should  say,  'I  will  forsake  my  sin  when  all 
others  do  it;'  would  he  ever  reform?  The  Bible,  con- 
science, commands  that  sin  be  at  once  forsaken.  Each 
one  must  repent  for  himself,  independently  of  the  action 
of  others.  If  he  does  not,  if  he  waits  for  others,  he 
shall  bear  his  iniquity.  Nations  can  do  wrong,  and 
when  they  have  done  wrong  they  should  repent  and 
forsake  their  sins,  each  one  for  itself." 

"But  will  the  free  coinage  of  silver  by  the  United 
States  alone,  independently  of  foreign  nations,  be  safe?" 
asked  Col.  Brown,  winking  again.  "Will  we  not  be 
deluged  with  cheap  silver?  Will  not  the  gold  leave  us?" 

"It  has  already  left  us,  I  think,"  Mrs.   Brown  re- 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION.  149 

marked.  "  I  have  not  seen  a  gold  coin  for  three 
years." 

"The  only  safety  is  to  forsake  sin,"  the  minister 
answered.  "It  is  never  safe  to  continue  in  sin.  Right- 
eousness, conformity  to  God's  law,  like  honesty,  is 
always  the  best  policy.  The  free  coinage  of  silver  by 
the  United  States  will  so  increase  the  demand  for  silver 
and  decrease  the  world's  demand  for  gold  that  it  will  go 
far  to  re-establish  the  old  ratio.  It  is  also  likely  that 
other  nations  may  follow  our  righteous  example.  But, 
whatever  be  the  result,  we  should  do  right." 

As  the  clock  struck  eleven  the  party  broke  up.  Mr. 
Robinson  said,  "Miss  Jenny,  may  I  have  the  pleasure 
of  seeing  you  home?"  But  she  replied,  "Mr.  Jones 
passes  my  gate,  and  I  will  not  trouble  you."  He  turned 
to  the  right  after  leaving  the  gate,  displeased  with  Miss 
Jenny,  irritated  by  Col.  Brown's  winks,  and  not  much 
pleased  with  himself. 

Mr.  Jones  and  Miss  Jenny  at  the  gate  turned  to  the 
left.  The  latter  said :  "I  am  surprised  at  Mr.  Robin- 
son. That  he,  a  member  of  the  church  and  a  leader 
of  the  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.,  should  prefer  a  corrupt  political 
party  to  the  Bible  and  God's  will,  and  assert  his  inten- 
tion to  renounce  Christianity  rather  than  submit,  aston- 


"  Some  what  like  the  Rev.  Dr.  Luther  Calvin  Wesley, 
is  he  not?"  suggested  Mr.  Jones. 

"I  can  understand  Dr.  Wesley,"  replied  the  girl. 
"He  would  reduce  his  family  to  want  by  accepting  and 
advocating  the  political  system  of  the  Bible.  But  Mr. 
Robinson  would  lose  nothing  by  doing  it." 

"Pardon  me,  but  he  feels  that  he  would  lose  much," 
the  parson  returned.  "He  was  born  and  brought  up  a 


150  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

Kepublican.  All  the  sentiments  of  love,  all  the  mem- 
ories of  home,  are  bound  up  with  its  creed." 

"Wasn't  it  ridiculous,  his  bringing  his  mother's  sick- 
ness and  sufferings  into  the  discussion  of  the  tariff?" 

"All  these  he  thinks  he  would  have  to  surrender 
before  he  could  embrace  the  truth.  It  is  a  wrench  at 
his  heart-strings.  Dr.  Wesley  thinks  so  too.  So  we 
should  have  patience  with  them." 

"I  don't  see  it.  How  conceited  !  To  set  himself  up 
as  wiser  than  the  Bible,  as  superior  to  God." 

They  walked  together  in  silence.  At  her  gate  Miss 
Jenny  said:  "I  am  very  much  interested.  Can  you  not 
come  to  our  house  to-morrow  night?"  Mr.  Jones  prom- 
ised to  do  so. 

As  they  fastened  up  the  house  Mrs.  Brown  said  to  her 
husband:  "You  and  Brother  Jones  were  hard  on  the 
young  lawyer.  But  he  was  quite  self-conceited.  His 
assertion  that  he  would  reject  the  Bible  if  it  did  not 
agree  with  his  opinion  shocked  me." 

"I  think  he  fancies  Miss  Smith;  and  she  knows  it," 
her  husband  returned.  "But  she  was.  more  shocked 
than  you  by  his  self-confidence." 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

USURY,    OK    INTEREST. 

THE  next  night,  Tuesday,  after  tea,  there  were  assem- 
bled, in  Mrs.  Smith's  pleasant  parlor,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Smith  and  their  daughter,  Miss  Jenny,  Col.  and  Mrs. 
Brown  and  the  Rev.  Jacob  Jones.  They  had  assem 
bled,  on  Miss  Jenny's  invitation,  to  discuss  further  the 
money  question.  After  the  salutations  Mr.  Jones 
remarked:  "The  currency  problem,  we  decided  last 
night,  is  a  branch  of  the  taxation  question.  Whatever 
the  government  accepts  for  its  dues  will  be  the  currency 
of  the  people.  Money  is,  therefore,  always  and  necessarily 
the  creation  of  the  government,  since  it  only  can  decide 
what  it  will  receive  for  taxes,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  every 
government  to  supply  just  and  honest  money  to  its  own 
people.  This  it  can  do  by  increasing  the  amount  of 
money  when  it  is  rising  in  value,  and  by  diminishing 
the  issue  of  money  when  its  value  is  falling.  I  propose 
that  we  discuss  to-night  the  question  of  usury  or  interest. " 

"  'Usury  or  interest,'  "  repeated  Miss  Jenny;  "I 
thought  they  were  different ;  that  usury  was  excessive 
interest." 

"There  is  a  difference  in  law,"  said  Col.  Brown. 
"Usury  is  illegal  interest;  but  in  morals  and  in  econom- 
ics there  is  little  or  no  difference.  Morality  is  not  a 
difference  between  six  and  ten  per  cent.  If  a  high  inter- 
est is  injurious  to  society,  a  low  interest  will  also  injure 

151 


152  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

the  public  welfare.  I  may  also  say  that  the  usury  laws 
do  little  good,  but  rather  raise  the  common  rate  of 
interest." 

"Another  illustration  of  the  truth,"  the  minister 
interposed,  "that  laws  which  are  not  founded  on  the 
higher  law  are  mischievous.  There  is  no  difference  in 
morals  between  five  and  ten  per  cent.,  and  the  human 
laws  that  try  to  create  a  difference  do  only  harm." 

"It  is  a  very  large  subject,"  said  the  merchant.    "All 
business  is  conducted  on  the  basis  that  interest  is  right 
eous.     If  it  is  wrong,  some  branches  of  business,  as  life 
insurance  and  banking,  must  be  entirely  abandoned,  and 
the  methods  of  doing  all  business  must  be  modified." 

"That  is  an  argument  for  thoroughly  considering  the 
subject,"  remarked  his  wife.  "It  is  impossible  for 
any  one  to  live  a  holy  life  and  at  the  same  time  engage 
in  an  unrighteous  occupation  or  carry  on  a  righteous 
trade  in  an  unrighteous  manner." 

"Let  us  discuss  the  matter  thoroughly,"  added  Mrs. 
Brown . 

"The  definitions  of  money  do  not  justify  interest," 
Col.  Brown  said,  reflectively.  "If  it  is  a  means  or  tool 
for  exchanging  property,  the  grocer  should  not  pay  one- 
third  of  his  profits  for  the  use  of  a  wheelbarrow  to  carry 
his  provisions  to  his  customers.  If  it  is  a  yardstick  for 
measuring  values,  the  dry-goods  merchant  should  not  be 
charged  one-third  of  his  profits  for  a  yardstick.  If  it  is 
a  record  or  representative  of  value  or  property,  the 
farmer  should  not  pay  a  quarter  of  his  crop  every  year 
for  recording  the  title  deed  to  his  farm.  I  cannot  think 
of  any  definition  of  money  that  will  justify  interest." 

"We  may,  I  think,"  the  minister  said,  "state  the 
principle  as  follows : 


USURY,   OR  INTEREST.  153 

"Principle  17. — Interest ,  or  usury,  is  stealing.  The 
government  should  discourage  tY." 

"Whew!"  exclaimed  Col.  Brown.  "You  have  under- 
taken a  big  job." 

"But  not  too  great  a  work  for  Christ  and  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  accomplish,"  the  parson  said,  reverently. 
"The  first  argument  is  that  interest  is  extortion.  It 
differs  radically  from  hire  or  rent.  If  a  boat  is  hired 
or  a  house  or  farm  is  rented  the  owner  gives  something 
and  the  borrower  or  renter  gets  something  for  the  rent 
or  hire.  The  boat  or  house  wears  out,  the  field  is 
exhausted  by  cropping,  and  the  owner  loses  for  the  time 
the  use  of  the  field,  the  house  or  the  boat.  The  leaner 
of  money  loses  nothing,  for  he  has  no  present  use  for  the 
money ;  otherwise  he  would  not  loan  it.  The  money  he 
receives  when  the  loan  is  repaid  is  as  good  as  that  he 
loaned,  unlike  the  field,  house  or  boat.  The  lender 
plainly  does  not  give  anything  for  the  interest  he  col- 
lects. The  borrower  does  not  get  anything.  The  field 
yields  a  crop,  the  house  shelter,  and  by  means  of  the 
boat  fish  can  be  caught.  But  money  is  barren ;  it  yields 
nothing.  Interest  is  robbery. " 

"You  overlook  one  point,"  said  the  merchant.  "The 
money  can  be  changed  into  a  field,  a  house  or  a  boat, 
and  the  loan  of  the  money  is  equivalent  to  the  loan  of 
the  field,  house  or  boat." 

"Is  it?"  questioned  the  lawyer.  "The  owner  of  the 
field  will  receive  it  back  with  the  loss  inflicted  by  gath- 
ering a  crop ;  the  house  and  the  boat  will  be  nearer  the 
end  of  their  usefulness,  or  the  house  may  be  burnt  and 
the  boat  wrecked.  There  are  losses  and  dangers  con- 
nected with  such  loans,  from  which  the  lender  of  money 
is  free," 


154  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

"The  money-lender  has  his  losses  too,"  said  Mrs. 
Smith.  "Some  loans  are  not  repaid." 

"Payment  for  such  risk,"  the  preacher  replied, 
"might  not  be  unjust.  But  such  insurance  from  loss 
would  not  be  interest.  In  the  case  of  well  -  secured 
loans,  'gilt-edged  mortgages,'  United  States  bonds, 
etc.,  it  would  be  a  zero  quantity. 

"Of  all  robberies  usury  or  interest  is  the  greatest.  I 
guess  (a  mere  guess),"  continued  Mr.  Jones,  "that  for 
every  dollar  taken  by  the  burglars  and  pickpockets  the 
usurers  take  a  thousand ;  that  for  every  dollar  of  unneces- 
sary taxes  collected  by  the  government  the  usurers  col- 
lect ten ;  that  for  every  dollar  placed  by  the  state  in  the 
tills  of  trusts  and  monopolies  five  dollars  of  interest  goes 
into  the  usurer's  hands." 

"If  interest  be  extortion,"  Col.  Brown  remarked, 
"the  usurers  are  the  greatest  robbers." 

"It  is  a  robbery  that  nothing  can  bear,"  added  the 
parson.  "One  dollar  put  at  compound  interest  in  A.  D. 
1  would  now  amount  to  a  sum  inconceivably  great.  All 
the  property  in  the  world  would  not  pay  the  debt ;  the 
globe  itself,  if  turned  into  solid  gold,  would  not  pay  it. 

"God,  some  ancient  has  said,  is  a  mathematician. 
What  has  such  monstrous  results  cannot  accord  with  his 
will. " 

"Yet  I  suppose  that  there  was  money  at  interest  at 
the  beginning  of  our  era,"  said  Mrs.  Brown. 

''Interest  and  capital,  creditors  and  debtors,  men, 
women  and  children,  when  usury  and  other  forms  of 
robbery  had  eaten  out  the  heart  of  Roman  civiliza- 
tion, were  destroyed  by  the  savages,"  Mr.  Jones  contin- 
ued. "Like  causes  produce  like  effects.  'Be  not 
deceived,'  is  the  exhortation.  'God  is  not  mocked ;  what- 


USURY,   OR  INTEREST.  155 

soever  a  man  sows,  that  shall  he  reap.'  When  interest 
and  oppression  have  taken  their  wealth  from  the  people 
and  made  their  lives  a  mere  struggle  for  existence,  our 
civilization  also  will  perish." 

"But  there  are  now  no  barbarous  nations  able  to  over- 
throw it,"  Miss  Jenny  objected. 

"There  were  none  able  to  overthrow  the  Roman  civil- 
ization," replied  the  minister.  "The  German  savages 
were  as  inferior  in  military  skill  to  the  Roman  legions  as 
our  Indians  or  tramps  are  to  our  regular  soldiers.  When 
the  trunk  of  the  tree  is  rotten  and  only  the  bark  is 
sound,  it  falls  before  a  slight  breeze.  It  is  useless  to 
speculate  when  or  whence  will  come  the  breeze  that  will 
fell  our  tree  of  liberty  that  has  sheltered  so  many  so 
long. 

"The  debts  of  the  world  will  never  be  paid  under 
present  conditions.  All  hope  of  paying  off  the  national 
debts  of  Europe  has  long  been  abandoned;  if  the  inter- 
est is  paid  the  governments  think  they  do  well.  The 
private  indebtedness  of  the  world  is  a  much  larger  sum. 
It  doubles  itself  at  compound  interest  in  every  dozen  or 
fifteen  years." 

"The  productiveness  of  industry  is  also  increasing 
very  rapidly,"  the  merchant  said. 

"Very  true,"  the  lawyer  responded.  "But  it  does 
not  increase  at  compound  interest." 

"When  shall  we  look  for  the  sheriff?"  asked  his  wife. 

"I  can  not  tell,"  replied  Col.  Brown.  "Already  the 
larger  part  of  the  wealth  of  the  American  people  is  in 
the  hands  of  a  very  few ;  and  the  process  of  concentra- 
tion is  going  on.  Our  condition  is  alarming;  like  a 
pyramid  resting  on  its  apex,  a  very  little  force  will  over- 
turn it,  and  crush  its  stones  to  powder." 


156  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

"Of  all  forms  of  robbery,"  the  parson  resumed, 
"interest  is  the  most  demoralizing;  because  it  is  legal- 
ized; because  it  teaches  the  people,  with  all  the  authority 
of  the  law,  with  all  the  influence  of  the  nation,  that  it 
is  right  to  take  the  property  of  others  without  making 
them  any  return.  From  this  idea  has  sprung  the  notion 
that  excessive  business  profits  are  righteous,  that  it  is 
right  for  private  parties  to  grasp  or  accept  natural 
monopolies  for  their  private  advantage  and  to  form 
trusts  to  increase  their  profits.  While  sanctioning  inter- 
est we  cannot  logically  condemn  these  other  forms  of 
oppression.  If  it  is  righteous  to  use  the  currency,  which 
is  always  the  creature  of  government,  as  a  means  of 
private  gain,  it  is  proper  to  use  other  functions  of  gov- 
ernment for  private  profit.  So  that  the  defender  of 
usury  can  not  vigorously  attack  the  trusts  and  monopo- 
lies and  the  oppressive  taxation  which  is  advantageous 
to  private  persons." 

"Please  make  that  clearer,"  Miss  Jenny  said. 

"In  order  that  the  people  may  exchange  their  work,  may 
help  each  other,  and  thus  live  in  amity  and  friendship," 
the  minister  explained,  "it  is  the  duty  of  every  govern- 
ment to  provide  honest  money  for  its  own  people.  If  it 
is  proper  for  the  usurers  to  make  a  profit  out  of  this 
duty  of  government,  it  is  proper  for  monopolists  to  make 
a  profit  out  of  other  governmental  functions.  The 
usurers  and  monopolists  stand  on  the  same  ground: 
instead  of  supporting  themselves  by  their  own  industry, 
they  draw  their  profits  from  the  powers  of  government, 
which  should  be  used  for  the  benefit  of  all  the  people. 

"Usury  is  injurious  in  other  ways.  It  encourages 
reckless  business  methods,  by  encouraging  borrowing. 

"Next,  it  throws  all  the  risks  of  business,  of  bad  sea- 


USURY,    OR  INTEREST.  157 

sons,  bad  crops,  fire,  sickness,  death,  a  contracting  cur- 
rency, etc. ,  on  the  borrowers,  on  those  least  able  to  bear 
them. 

"Interest  discourages  industry.  It  is  to  the  advantage 
of  society  that  all  should  work ;  that  those  having  money 
should  build  houses,  stores,  erect  and  operate  factories, 
build  and  fit  out  ships  for  foreign  or  domestic  commerce, 
etc.  Interest  allows  them  to  live  without  work,  con- 
trary to  the  decree  of  the  Creator. 

"From  all  these  considerations  it  seems  clear  that 
interest  is  condemned  by  the  law  of  God,  and  is  a  crime 
which  the  state  should  prevent.  Now  we  will  examine 
the  revealed  law  of  God." 

"Stop  a  minute,  Parson,"  said  Col.  Brown,  winking 
at  Miss  Jenny.  "Suppose  I  imitate  our  friend  Mr. 
Robinson  and  turn  skeptic  or  atheist  if  the  teachings  of 
the  Bible  do  not  suit  me." 

"That  was  so  irreverent,"  exclaimed  the  girl,  "almost 
blasphemous ! ' ' 

Replying  to  the  lawyer,  Mr.  Jones  said:  "That  would 
be  a  far  more  manly  course  than  to  profess  reverence  for 
the  Bible  and  at  the  same  time  reject  or  pervert  its 
teachings.  If  those  who  cannot  receive  all  the  teachings 
of  the  Bible  on  all  subjects,  without  any  reserve  or  qual- 
ifications whatever,  would  profess  themselves  infidels  and 
leave  the  church,  the  Gospel,  religion,  would  be  a  great 
gainer.  It  is  the  traitors  within,  and* not  the  skeptics 
without,  who  injure  religion  and  hinder  the  establish- 
ment of  Christ's  kingdom  in  the  world.  Mr.  Robinson's 
position,  that  he  will  be  an  atheist  rather  than  accept 
God's  truth  about  silver,  is  more  manly  and  less  injuri- 
ous than  that  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Luther  Calvin  Wesley, 
who  has  turned  his  back  on  the  political  teaching  of  the 


158  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

Bible  and  yet  professes  himself  to  be  a  teacher  of  it. 
But  I  hope  that  the  Holy  Spirit  will  show  both  Jack 
and  Dr.  Wesley  the  folly  and  wickedness  of  their 
positions. " 


CHAPTEE  XX. 

THE    BIBLE    ON    USURY. 

MKS.  SMITH,  who  had  left  the  room,  now  brought  in 
a  basket  of  her  fine  apples,  which  interrupted  the  talk. 
After  they  had  been  eaten,  Mr.  Jones  asked  Miss  Jenny 
to  read  the  Bible  law  about  interest.  "Please  read 
Exodus  22:25." 

"If  thou  lend  money  to  any  of  my  people  that  is  poor 
by  thee,  thou  shalt  not  be  to  him  as  an  usurer,  neither 
shalt  thou  lay  upon  him  usury." 

"Our  missionary  board  has  money  loaned  at  interest," 
exclaimed  Miss  Smith.  "How  do  they  reconcile  it  with 
this  text?" 

"They  draw  a  distinction  between  commercial  loans 
and  benevolent  loans,  between  lending  money  on  which 
a  profit  is  expected  and  lending  money  to  buy  the  neces- 
saries of  life,"  replied  the  minister,  "and  they  hold  that 
the  text  does  not  prohibit  commercial  interest,  but  only 
refers  to  the  latter.  The  distinction  is  fanciful.  Mr. 
A,  a  manufacturer,  has  fifty  hands  to  pay  on  Saturday 
night ;  collections  have  been  slow ;  he  is  really  fifty  times 
poorer  temporarily  than  any  one  of  them,  for  he  has 
fifty  families  depending  on  him.  Would  not  a  loan  to 
him  fall  into  the  second  class?  Mr.  B,  one  of  his  hands, 
has  been  sick  and  needs  money  to  buy  medicine  and 
food;  he  as  plainly  belongs  to  the  first  class,  for  he 
expects  to  recover  and  make  a  profit  out  of  the  loan. 

159 


160  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

"Let  us  remember  as  we  hear  these  texts  that,  since 
the  Son  of  God  was  the  angel  of  the  covenant,  they  are 
the  law  of  Christ  our  Savior.  Please  read  Leviticus 
25:35-38." 

"If  thy  brother  be  waxen  poor,  and  fallen  into 
decay  with  thee;  then  thou  shalt  relieve  him:  yea, 
though  he  be  a  stranger,  or  a  sojourner ;  that  he  may  live 
with  thee.  Take  thou  no  usury  of  him,  or  increase:  but 
fear  thy  God ;  that  thy  brother  may  live  with  thee.  Thou 
shalt  not  give  him  thy  money  upon  usury,  nor  lend  him 
thy  victuals  for  increase.  I  am  the  Lord  your  God, 
which  brought  you  forth  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  to 
give  you  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  to  be  your  God." 

"Why  has  our  pastor,  Dr.  Wesley,  never  preached 
from  this  text?"  Mrs.  Smith  demanded. 

"It  would  not  do,"  her  husband  answered.  "Many 
of  the  members  are  living  on  their  property.  If  he  did 
it  he  would  have  to  resign  his  charge  and  he  would  have 
trouble  to  get  another." 

"He  could  have  made  a  good  sermon  from  it,"  said 
Mr.  Jones;  "for  it  suggests  five  arguments  against  inter- 
est: 1.  We  are  all  liable  to  wax  poor.  2.  The  poor 
cannot  thrive  under  usury.  3.  Fear  God;  the  bor- 
rower is  his  child;  would  you  charge  God  interest? 

4.  The    sovereignty   of    Jehovah,  who    forbids    usury. 

5.  The  goodness  of  God  in  providing  for  us.     The  next 
text  we  will  hear  suggests  a  sixth   argument    against 
interest:    its  abolition  will  make   good  times.     Please 
read  Deuteronomy  23:  19-20." 

"Thou  shalt  not  lend  upon  usury  to  thy  brother; 
usury  of  money,  usury  of  victuals,  usury  of  anything 
that  is  lent  upon  usury.  Unto  a  stranger  thou  mayest 
lend  upon  usury;  but  unto  thy  brother  thou  shalt  not 
lend  upon  usury :  that  the  Lord  thy  God  may  bless  thee 


THE  BIBLE  ON  USURY.  161 

in  all  that  thou  settest  thine  hand  unto  in  the  land 
whither  thou  goest  to  possess  it." 

"Please  explain  the  text,"  said  Miss  Jenny,  looking 
up  from  the  big  Bible.  "The  Hebrews  were  forbidden 
to  take  interest  of  a  Jew  and  allowed  to  take  it  of  a  for- 
eigner." 

"They  would  live  in  ages  and  engage  in  occupations 
in  which  interest  was  paid  and  received,"  the  minister 
explained.  "That  happened  to  the  slothful  servant  in 
the  parable  of  the  talents  and  the  pounds  who  was 
blamed  for  not  collecting  usury.  In  such  cases  they 
were  allowed  to  receive  interest.  In  our  age  and  coun- 
try, which  does  not  accept  the  Mosaic  law,  that  is, 
Christ's  law,  about  interest,  I  suppose  that  it  is  lawful 
for  a  Christian  to  receive  and  pay  interest.  No  true 
Christian,  of  course,  will  refuse  to  pay  what  he  has 
promised  to  pay.  It  is  not  possible  for  any  tax-payer  to 
avoid  paying  interest  on  public  debts ;  and  it  would  be 
difficult  for  any  one  to  avoid  receiving  some  of  the  ben- 
efits that  come  from  interest,  since  so  many  of  our  col- 
leges, schools,  libraries,  museums,  hospitals,  etc.,  are 
supported  by  endowments.  Wages,  salaries  and  profits 
would  be  larger  if  there  were  no  interest ;  as  Christians 
thus  indirectly  pay  interest,  they  should  receive  it  when 
it  is  due  them.  At  the  same  time  Christians  should 
never  cease  asserting  that  God  forbids  interest." 

"You  seem  to  contradict  yourself,"  the  lawyer  re- 
marked. "You  say  that  interest  is  extortion,  robbery, 
and  that  Christians  may  receive  it.  May  they 
rob?" 

"The  apparent  difficulty  is  illustrated  by  the  Mosaic 
law  about  diseased  meat,"  Mr.  Jones  replied.  "The 
Jews  were  forbidden  to  eat  the  flesh  of  animals  which 


162  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

had  died  of  disease,  but  they  were  allowed  to  sell  or  give 
it  to  Gentiles  living  with  them." 

"Our  laws  forbid  the  sale  of  such  meat  altogether," 
Col.  Brown  remarked. 

"But  if  a  large  proportion  of  our  population  preferred 
such  meat  or  liked  it  gamey,  high,  ought  the  law  to 
forbid  its  sale?"  the  minister  asked.  "In  order  for 
men  of  unlike  views  to  live  together  a  certain  toleration 
of  practices  which  are  disapproved  by  the  wiser  class 
seems  to  be  necessary.  Thus  the  British  in  India  pro- 
tect idol  temples  from  desecration  and  idol  worship  from 
insult.  Perhaps  this  might  be  included  in  religious 
toleration.  Polygamy  has  no  such  defense.  And  yet 
the  British  law  in  India  recognizes  polygamy.  And  it 
is  right.  For,  although  polygamy  is  a  sin,  yet  sexual 
anarchy  would  be  a  greater  sin.  Just  so  interest  is 
wrong,  forbidden  by  God,  yet  commercial  anarchy  would 
be  worse.  If  there  be  only  a  choice  of  sins,  as  is  the 
case  with  us,  so  long  as  all  our  business  is  conducted  on 
the  interest  basis,  Christians  do  well  to  practice  the 
least." 

"Very  well  explained,"  said  the  lawyer. 

"That  the  passage  read  last  by  Miss  Jenny  does  not 
change  the  law  about  interest,"  the  minister  continued, 
"is  plain  from  subsequent  references  to  it.  Psalm  15 
asks,  'Lord,  who  shall  abide  in  thy  tabernacle?'  and 
replies,  'He  that  putteth  not  out  his  money  to 
usury.'  ' 

"If  that  rule  were  applied,"  Mr.  Smith  remarked, 
"the  Covenant  Church  would  not  report  so  many  mem- 
bers to  presbytery." 

"Those  you  did  report,"  returned  Col.  Brown,  "would 
be  a  greater  power  for  good.  The  indifference  of  the 


THE  BIBLE  ON  USURY.  163 

church  to  the  material  welfare  of  the  people,  its  heart- 
lessness,  if  you  will  excuse  the  word,  is  the  greatest 
obstacle  to  the  progress  of  religion." 

"In  the  eighteenth  and  twenty-second  chapters  of 
Ezekiel,"  Mr.  Jones  resumed,  "interest  is  classed  among 
flagrant  crimes.  Nehemiah  (see  the  fifth  chapter)  put 
an  end  to  it  for  a  time  in  Judea." 

"If  interest  is  robbery,  which  I  do  not  admit " 

Col.  Brown  began. 

Mr.  Jones  interrupted  him:  "I  am  glad  that  you  do 
not  admit  it  quickly.  Opinions  hastily  adopted  will  be 
as  hastily  abandoned.  Please  meditate  the  question 
thoroughly." 

"If  interest  is  extortion,"  the  lawyer  resumed,  "gov- 
ernment should  prevent  it." 

"I  am  pleased  that  you  use  the  word  'prevent'  and 
not  prohibit,"  the  minister  remarked. 

"Why  so?"  Mrs.  Brown  asked. 

"Because  the  political  conscience  of  the  people  is  so 
easy,"  returned  Mr.  Jones.  "When  a  law  has  been 
passed  forbidding  a  crime  they  think  their  whole  duty 
done,  although  the  law  is  instantly  a  dead  letter.  'Pre- 
vent' is  the  right  word." 

"How  shall  the  government  prevent  interest?"  Mr. 
Smith  asked. 

"On  that  point  the  Bible  is  silent.  It  states  princi- 
ples and  leaves  us  to  apply  them,"  Mr.  Jones  continued, 
in  an  abstracted  manner.  "For  example:  although  the 
Bible  nowhere  mentions  bank  notes,  it  forbids  counter- 
feiting and  makes  it  the  duty  of  government  to  prevent 
it.  The  English  prevent  it  by  plain  printing,  the 
Americans  by  elaborate  printing  on  bank  notes;  both 
modes,  if  effectual,  might  possibly  be  called  scriptural. 


164  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

The  most  scriptural  method  would  be  the  one  that  would 
best  prevent  or  lessen  the  evil." 

"  'Lessen  the  evil,'  "  repeated  Mrs.  Brown.  "I 
thought  the  Bible  dealt  in  absolute  prohibitions ;  that  it 
had  no  toleration  for  sin." 

The  minister  said:  "When  crimes  cannot  be  pre- 
vented by  government  they  should  be  lessened.  There 
are  two  instances  in  the  legislation  of  Christ,  which  was 
proclaimed  through  Moses.  One  was  the  custom  of 
blood  revenge,  and  the  other  of  divorce.  The  custom 
of  blood  revenge  was  closely  connected  in  the  Oriental 
mind  with  some  of  the  noblest  feelings  of  the  human 
heart,  with  family  affection  and  with  the  sense  of  jus- 
tice. Moses  could  not  destroy  it ;  and  if  he  had  done  it 
he  would  have  injured  the  noble  feelings  on  which  it  was 
founded.  He  did  not  try  to  do  it.  He  limited  it  to  the 
murderer,  forbade  any  money  compensation,  and  ap- 
pointed cities  of  refuge,  in  which  the  one  who  accident- 
ally killed  another,  removed  from  the  sight  of  the 
avenger  of  blood,  might  dwell  securely.  The  Oriental 
likewise  thought  that  it  was  not  good  for  a  man  to  marry 
unless  he  could  dismiss  his  wife  if  she  displeased  him. 
To  prohibit  divorce  while  this  idea  remained  would  dis- 
courage marriage.  Moses  therefore  limited  the  evil  by 
requiring  legal  forms  in  divorce  and  by  making  it  final, 
forbidding  the  divorced  pair  to  live  together.  The 
practice  of  usury  is  so  closely  connected  with  all  our 
business  and  our  benevolence  that  it  cannot  at  once  be 
ended.  But  it  can  be  lessened. 

"The  first  step  is  to  thoroughly  convince  all  the  peo- 
ple that  interest,  whether  at  two  or  twenty  per  cent. ,  is 
extortion." 

"What  next?"  asked  Miss  Jenny. 


THE  BIBLE  ON  USURY.  165 

"Granting  that  interest  is  robbery,"  replied  the  law- 
yer, "every  contract  into  which  it  enters,  of  which  it  is 
a  part,  is  tainted  with  fraud  and  should  not  be  enforced 
by  the  courts." 

"That  would  not  stop  it,"  the  merchant  returned. 
"Honest  men  do  not  keep  their  contracts  because  the 
courts  compel  them." 

"It  would  stamp  usury  with  public  condemnation. " 
replied  his  wife. 

"Newspapers  containing  offers  to  pay  interest  might 
be  excluded  from  the  mails,  as  those  advertising  lotteries 
are,"  said  Mrs.  Brown. 

"Why  not  pass  a  law  making  usury  a  felony?"  Miss 
Jenny  asked. 

"Such  a  law  at  the  present  time  would  be  both  useless 
and  wicked,"  the  minister  replied;  "useless  because  it 
would  be  a  dead  letter,  and  wicked  because  it  would 
require  some  to  break  their  contracts. 

"The  government,"  he  continued,  "should  not  bor- 
row any  more  money  on  interest.  Indeed,  national  debts 
on  any  terms  are  forbidden  by  those  texts  which  re- 
quire the  people  to  support  the  powers  ordained  of 
God." 

"Have  you  not  something  else  to  propose?"  Col.  Brown 
asked  Mr.  Jones. 

"It  is  the  duty  of  every  government  to  provide  stable 
and  honest  money  for  its  own  people,"  he  replied. 
"This  it  can  only  do  by  issuing  more  money  when  gen- 
eral prices  fall  and  by  issuing  less  when  the  prices  of  all 
goods  are  rising.  Is  there  any  better  way  for  the  govern- 
ment to  issue  money  than  by  loaning  it  without  interest 
to  those  needing  money  and  able  to  furnish  security  for 
its  repayment?" 


166  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

"Whatt  effect  would  this  have  upon  usury?"  the  mer- 
chant asked. 

"If  we  had  an  honest  currency  and  general  prices 
varied  very  little,  the  larger  part  of  the  money  now  used 
iii  speculation  would  be  thrown  upon  the  loan  market 
and  reduce  the  rate  of  interest.  The  government  loans 
would  have  the  same  influence." 

"The  expense "  began  the  merchant. 

"Would  be  small — only  the  printing  of  the  notes  and 
the  cost  of  examining  the  security — and  would  be  borne 
by  the  borrowers,"  the  minister  said,  completing  the 
sentence. 

"But  the  corruption,"  the  lawyer  objected. 

"It  has  to  be  seriously  thought  of.  The  plan  was 
worked  for  many  years  in  the  colony  of  Pennsylvania 
without  much  corruption.  Yes,  the  times  have  changed. 
But  those  wishing  to  borrow  the  smallest  sum  would,  of 
course,  have  the  preference,  and  men  who  wish  to  bor- 
row only  twenty-five  or  fifty  dollars  do  not,  as  a  rule, 
have  much  political  influence.  General  rules  would  be 
adopted,  and  it  is  possible  that  the  administration  of  the 
national  loan  office  might  be  as  pure  as  that  of  the  post- 
office." 

"The  Constitution  would  have  to  be  amended,"  said 
the  merchant. 

"The  issue  of  money  seems  to  be  a  necessary  function 
connected  with  the  coining  of  money,"  replied  the  min- 
fster. 

"We  would  have  a  depreciated  currency,  like  the  Con- 
tinental bills,  the  Confederate  notes  and  the  greenbacks 
during  the  war,  or  the  wildcat  bank  notes  before  the 
war,"  the  merchant  objected,  "if  the  government  made 
the  money." 


THE  BIBLE  ON  USURY.  167 

"During  the  Revolutionary  and  Civil  wars  everything 
was  sacrificed  to  carrying  on  the  war.  There  was  no 
effort  to  make  sound  money.  The  more  bills  the  wild- 
cat banks  printed  the  more  they  could  loan  and  the  more 
interest  they  could  collect.  But  in  loaning  money  with- 
out interest  there  would  be  no  profit  from  its  issue  and 
no  temptation  to  an  over-issue.  There  would  be  some 
debate  as  to  the  standard,  whether  it  should  be  the 
average  of  general  prices  during  the  last  ten  years  or 
during  the  last  twenty  or  thirty  or  forty  years. 
This  point  settled,  the  rest  of  the  work  would  be  purely 
mathematical.  The  principle  adopted  that  general 
prices  should  be  stable,  there  is  little  reason  to  doubt 
that  the  mathematical  work  would  be  done  as  accurately 
and  as  honestly  as  that  of  the  United  States  treasury." 

"You  have  not  satisfied  me,"  the  lawyer  remarked. 

"Then  you  should  suggest  some  better  plan  for  keep- 
ing our  money  stable  in  value  and  decreasing  the  sin  of 
usury." 

"Is  this  the  same  as  the  postal  savings  banks?"  Miss 
Jenny  inquired. 

"Altogether  different,"  was  Mr.  Jones'  reply.  "The 
object  of  this  is  to  make  the  money  honest  and  sound 
and  to  abate  interest.  That  is  founded  on  the  right  of 
the  people  to  have  some  safe  place  to  keep  what  they 
have  earned.  Postal  savings  banks  exist  and  have  proved 
beneficial  in  almost  every  civilized  country  except  our 
own.  That  they  have  not  been  established  here  is 
another  sign  that  bankers  have  more  power  here  than  in 
any  other  land." 

The  party  now  broke  up.  As  the  guests  left,  Col. 
Brown  was  called  back  by  Mr.  Smith,  and  Mrs.  Brown 
and  Mr.  Jones  walked  on  together.  She  said:  "Your 


168  UNCLE  SAM'S   BIBLE. 

remark  about  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  impressed 
me.  I  wish  that  you  would  see  Mr.  Robinson." 

"Why?"  asked  the  minister. 

"The  Colonel  is  the  best  of  men  and  husbands.  But 
he  is,  as  you  know,  a  little  inclined  to  be  skeptical.  He 
has  been  professionally  associated  with  Mr.  Eobinson, 
and  has  had  a  great  respect  for  his  Christian  character. 
The  position  that  Mr.  Robinson  took  the  other  night, 
that  he  would  rather  surrender  his  faith  in  the  Bible 
than  his  opinion  about  the  free  coinage  of  silver,  will 
have  an  unfavorable  influence,  I  fear,  on  my  husband." 

Mr.  Jones  made  the  promise  just  as  Col.  Brown  over- 
took them. 


CHAPTER   XXI. 

GOD'S   LAKD    GRAKTS. 

THE  next  morning,  Wednesday,  November  1,  1897,  the 
Rev.  Jacob  Jones,  as  he  had  promised  Mrs.  Brown,  went 
to  the  office  of  John  Robinson,  Esq.,  and  was  fortunate 
enough  to  find  him  disengaged.  He  plunged  into  the 
middle  of  his  subject,  saying:  "I  want  your  help  in 
winning  Col.  Brown  to  faith  in  Christ." 

"Why  so?" 

t  "He  has  very  kind  feelings  for  you  and  a  great  respect 
for  your  Christian  character,  and  when,  night  before 
last,  he  heard  you  prefer  to  the  Bible  an  opinion  which 
he  looks  upon  as  having  no  good  foundation,  it  tended  to 
increase  his  leaning  to  skepticism." 

"I  did  no  worse  than  Dr.  Wesley.  When  you  trod 
on  his  toes  he  took  no  further  interest  in  our  discus- 
sions; and  he  is  a  minister." 

"His  fault  may  be  worse  than  yours,  Jack,  and  yet  it 
may  not  be  so  injurious  to  Col.  Brown.  Loyalty  to  the 
Bible  would  cost  him  more  than  it  would  you ;  for  it 
would  throw  him  so  far  out  of  sympathy  with  the  peo- 
ple, who  in  politics  believe  in  the  platforms  of  the 
Republican  and  Democratic  parties  and  the  United 
States  Constitution,  instead  of  the  Bible,  that  he  would 
not  be  an  acceptable  pastor.  To  earn  his  bread  he  must 
be  disloyal  to  the  Bible  in  political  matters.  He  veils 
his  disloyalty  better  than  you  do,  for  he  uses  his  zeal  for 

169 


170  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

the  salvation  of  sinners,  and  his  industry  in  visiting  the 
sick,  as  a  cloak  for  his  neglect  of  the  political  teachings 
of  the  Bible.  His  dissimulation  may  increase  his  guilt 
before  God,  but  it  diminishes  its  evil  influence  among 
men.  And  he  is  removed  from  Col.  Brown  by  his  whole 
manner  of  life;  so  that  you  have  a  greater  influence  with 
him  than  Dr.  Wesley  has." 

"It  is  hard  to  forsake  the  political  teachings  of  my 
mother.  Republicanism  was  a  part  of  her  religion." 

"I  do  not  ask  you  to  do  it.  I  mean  no  offense;  but 
she  was  a  believer  in  Bryanism :  for  she  favored  the  free 
coinage  of  silver,  paid  an  income  tax  without  complain- 
ing, approved  the  reorganization  of  the  supreme  court  to 
secure  a  just  decision,  opposed  trusts  and  justified  the 
heavy  tariff  duties  only  as  a  necessary  war  measure.  You 
will  best  honor  the  memory  of  your  mother  and  father 
by  adhering  to  their  doctrines  and  not  by  opposing 
them." 

"Do  you  make  the  Bible  a  Democratic  book?"  the 
young  lawyer  asked,  impatiently. 

"By  no  means.  The  Democrats  are  as  far  astray  as  the 
Republicans.  Whoever  puts  a  platform  on  a  level  with 
the  Bible  thereby  rejects  it  as  God's  word." 

"What  would  you  have  me  do?" 

"Calmly  and  thoroughly  re-examine  with  prayer  the 
position  you  took  the  other  night,  that  you  will  adhere 
to  your  political  opinions,  no  matter  what  the  Bible 
says.  If  it  is  right,  explain  to  Col.  Brown,  and  if  it  is 
wrong  renounce  it  openly." 

Just   then   Col.   Brown  walked  into   the   office   and 

began :  "About  that  land  case,  Jack "  But  seeing  the 

minister,  he  added:  "It  can  wait  while  we  have  a  chat. 
What  I  admire,  Parson,  is  your  earnestness.     I  like  to 


GOD'S  LAND  GRANTS.  171 

see  a  carpenter  or  lawyer  or  doctor  believe  that  his  occu- 
pation is  the  most  important  in  the  world,  and  I  like  to 
-see  a  minister  believe  the  Bible.  By  the  way,  as  Jack 
and  I  were  about  to  talk  about  a  land  case,  what  does 
the  Bible  say  about  land?" 

"The  Old  Testament  may  be  regarded  as  a  legal 
treatise  about  land  tenures,"  the  minister  replied.  "In 
the  beginning  of  Genesis  the  ownership  of  land  by  God 
through  creation  is  asserted,  and  his  conditional  grant 
of  it  to  men  and  their  forfeiture  of  it  are  recorded.  Then 
the  land  is  granted  anew  to  Noah's  descendants  condi- 
tionally. Next  the  land  of  Canaan  is  given  to  Abraham's 
seed,  who  are  not,  however,  to  take  possession  of  it  till 
the  Amorites,  to  whom  it  had  previously  been  deeded  by 
God,  had  forfeited  it  by  non-compliance  with  the  con- 
ditions of  their  deed.  Joshua  and  Judges  tell  how  the 
Jews  were  put  into  possession  of  their  inheritance.  The 
Prophets  explain  the  conditions  of  the  deed  made  by  God 
to  the  Jews  and  beseech  them  not  to  violate  them.  Kings 
and  Chronicles  relate  how  the  conditions  were  broken 
and  the  land  was  taken  from  them." 

"It  seems  to  me,"  remarked  Col.  Brown,  "that  I 
have  read  something  like  this  in  a  book  called  'The 
Bible  and  Land.'  " 

"I  re-read  this  book  last  week,"  said  the  minister. 
"It  is  the  best  book  on  the  land  question." 

"And  a  good  book  for  lawyers  to  read,  Jack,"  added 
the  old  lawyer. 

"What  does  the  Bible  teach  about  land?"  asked  Mr. 
Robinson. 

"First,  it  teaches  that  God,  as  the  Creator,  is  the  orig- 
inal and  supreme  owner  of  all  land,"  replied  Mr.  Jones. 
"By  land  we  mean  the  surface  of  the  globe,  with  all  on 


172  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

it  and  under  it  that  is  not  the  result  of  human  labor — 
the  natural  forests  on  it,  the  air  above  it,  the  mines 
beneath.  It  is  the  material  out  of  which  labor  produces 
all  that  satisfies  human  desires." 

"This  is  certainly  a  religious  truth,"  began  Col. 
Brown. 

"If  true  religiously,  why  is  it  not  true  politically  and 
legally?"  inquired  Mr.  Robinson.  "If  true  at  church, 
is  it  not  true  across  the  street  in  the  court-house?  If 
true  on  Sunday,  why  is  it  false  on  Monday?" 

"The  second  truth  that  the  Bible  teaches  about  land 
is  that  God  gives  land  to  men  through  government,  not 
to  the  race  as  a  common  possession,  and  not  to  nations, 
but  to  individuals,"  continued  the  minister.  "The 
proof?  All  the  laws  of  Moses  concerning  land;  and  if 
the  God  who  spoke  to  Moses  was  the  Second  Person  of 
the  Trinity,  they  are  the  land  laws  of  Christ.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  laws  of  Moses  the  whole  of  the  book  of 
Joshua  or  of  Jesus  (Jesus  is  the  Greek  form  of  Joshua) 
proves  it.  It  follows  that  if  God  gives  land  to  individ- 
uals the  private  ownership  of  land  is  righteous." 

"But  how  does  God  give  land  to  individuals?"  asked 
Mr.  Robinson. 

"By  the  same  instrumentalities  by  which  he  gives 
life,"  was  the  reply.  "A  long  train  of  second  causes 
reaching  back  sometimes  beyond  the  dawn  of  history." 

"It  is  objected  that  the  origin  of  the  private  ownership 
of  land  is  generally  violence  or  oppression,"  said  Mr. 
Robinson.  "Might  made  right.  The  strong  seized  the 
land  by  force  or  fraud,  and  made  those  who  needed  to 
use  it  their  serfs  and  dependents.  'A  stream  can  rise 
no  higher  than  its  source.'  " 

"By  the  same  argument  no  one  has  a  right  to  his  own 


GOD'S  LAND  GRANTS.  173 

life,"  replied  Mr.  Jones.  "We  live  because  our  savage 
ancestors  killed  their  foes  in  battle.  If  property  in  land 
is  founded  in  theft,  our  ownership  of  our  lives  is  based 
on  murder." 

"Prescription !  There  is  a  limit  beyond  which  neither 
law  nor  equity  nor  abstract  justice  should  try  to  pass. 
The  wrongs  of  the  distant  past  cannot  be  righted ;  the 
attempt  to  do  it  will  create  greater  wrongs,"  was  the 
reply  of  the  older  lawyer. 

"The  private  ownership  of  land  involves  slavery,"  was 
Mr.  Robinson's  next  objection.  "Since  men  cannot 
live  without  land,  the  ownership  of  the  land  involves  the 
ownership  of  those  who  cannot  live  without  the  land. 
This  is  slavery." 

"Freedom  is  not  personal  independence,  but  mutual 
dependence,"  was  the  preacher's  reply.  "The  man  who 
is  his  own  master,  who  owes  no  service  to  any  one,  to 
whom  none  owe  service,  is  not  a  freeman,  is  not  a  man 
at  all  in  any  true  sense,  but  an  unhappy  creature,  the 
most  wretched  of  human  beings.  I,  for  instance,  owe 
it  to  you  to  tell  you  what  God  says  about  land ;  if  I  con- 
cealed God's  truth  it  would  be  a  sin.  I  am  in  this 
respect  your  servant,  your  bond  servant,  bound  by  the 
laws  of  God,  of  society  and  of  my  own  nature  to  serve 
you. 

"We  cannot  exist  without  land;  and  this  fact  makes 
us  dependent  upon  land-owners.  This  dependence  God 
meant  to  bind  families  together ;  and  when  the  design  of 
the  paramount  land -owner  is  complied  with  it  will  have 
that  effect.  The  home  and  the  family  are  very  closely 
connected.  Without  a  home  there  can  be  no  family 
life,  and  without  the  full  ownership  of  the  home  the 
family  life  cannot  be  perfect.  Because  no  one  can  live 


174  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

without  land,  the  members  of  the  family  live  together 
and  form  the  unit  of  society.  For  society,  the  true 
social  state,  is  composed  of  families  rather  than  of  indi- 
viduals. 

4 'It  is  only  because  the  conditions  of  God's  land  grants 
are  disregarded  by  human  laws  and  customs  that  the 
private  ownership  of  land  is  ever  an  evil.  This  fact," 
continued  Mr.  Jones,  "leads  to  the  third  truth  taught 
in  the  Bible  about  land.  God's  grants  of  land  are  con- 
ditional, and  not  absolute.  They  are  leases,  and  not  deeds 
in  fee  simple.  He  gives  land  to  individuals,  but  only  to 
be  used  for  the  purposes  and  ends  for  which  he  created 
it.  If  the  conditions  are  not  complied  with,  the  title  to 
the  land  fails ;  it  reverts  to  the  Creator ;  and  sooner  or 
later  he  will  resume  the  possession  of  it.  So  the 
Amorites  lost  Canaan  when  the  cup  of  their  iniquity  was 
full ;  and  for  the  same  reason  the  Jews  were  exiles  from 
the  land  given  to  the  seed  of  Abraham." 

"It  does  not  need  any  revelation  to  teach  this," 
remarked  Col.  Brown.  "It  is  a  doctrine  of  theism.  If 
there  be  a  God  he  could  not  and  would  not  allow  land 
to  be  permanently  used  for  any  other  purpose  than  the 
one  for  which  he  made  it." 

"In  the  fourth  place,"  continued  the  preacher,  "the 
Bible  teaches  that  God  made  land  and  gives  it  to  men  to 
support  population  in  such  circumstances  as  are  most 
favorable  to  health,  piety,  morality  and  intelligence.  In 
creation  he  sought  'a  godly  seed.'  The  command,  'Be 
fruitful  and  multiply  and  replenish  the  earth,'  does  not 
refer  merely  to  numbers.  He  wishes  his  children  to  be 
happy  and  virtuous. 

"In  order,  therefore,  to  know  how  God  wishes  land  to 
be  used  and  what  are  the  conditions  of  his  grants  of 


GOD'S  LAND  GRANTS. 

land,  we  have  only  to  inquire  what  use  of  land  will  most 
surely  and  generally  promote  the  health,  piety,  virtue 
and  culture  of  the  people." 

"That  is  an  easy  inquiry,"  returned  Col.  Brown. 
"The  ownership  of  a  home  promotes  not  only  family 
love,  but  all  the  virtues.  It  encourages  industry, — because 
there  is  always  some  improvement  to  be  made  in  the 
family  home, — thrift,  independence,  intelligence.  Every 
good  plant  grows  from  the  ownership  of  land  in  small 
quantities." 

"As  every  ill  plant,"  rejoined  the  preacher,  "from  its 
ownership  in  vast  bodies — pride,  luxury,  extravagance, 
sensuality." 

"Therefore,  we  may  safely  assert,"  Mr.  Robinson  said, 
"that  the  condition  of  God's  land  grants  is  that  it  is  to 
be  used  for  homes  for  the  people,  to  be  held  in  small 
quantities." 

"We  are  ready  now,  I  think,"  remarked  Mr.  Jones, 
"to  state  the  principle  that  should  govern  our  land  legis- 
lation : 

"Principle  18. — Civil  government,  as  the  agent  of 
the  Supreme  Landlord,  must  adopt  such  laivs  as  will 
promote  the  division  of  land  among  those  ivho  will  make 
the  best  use  of  it. ' ' 

"The  principle  goes  further  than  our  agreement,"  Mr. 
Robinson  said.  "In  our  talk  we  referred  only  to  homes, 
but  the  principle  includes  farms,  mines,  and  sites  for 
stores,  shops  and  factories." 

"But  the  ownership  of  fields,  mines  and  business  sites 
has  the  same  beneficial  effects  as  the  ownership  of 
homes,"  Col.  Brown  replied.  "I  do  not  think  the 
principle  is  too  broad.  Of  course  it  does  not  look  to 


176  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

such  a  minute  subdivision  of  land  as  would  destroy  its 
usefulness." 

"What  are  the  scriptural  proofs  of  the  principle?" 
asked  Mr.  Eobinson. 

"You  will  find  them  in  'The  Bible  and  Land,'  " 
replied  Mr.  Jones.  "It  would  take  too  much  time  to 
refer  to  them  all.  The  list  of  texts  bearing  on  the  land 
question  fills  six  pages  of  small  type." 

"The  book  proves  the  principle  beyond  the  shadow  of 
a  doubt,"  added  Col.  Brown. 

"How  is  the  principle  to  be  enacted  into  laws?"  asked 
Mr.  Robinson. 

"Three  plans  have  been  suggested,"  Mr.  Jones  an- 
swered. "One  is  to  impose  a  limitation  on  the  amount 
of  land  that  may  be  owned  by  any  one.  The  second  is 
to  ordain  that  the  only  title  to  land  shall  be  use  and 
occupancy.  And  the  third  is  the  single  tax." 

"What  is  the  single  tax?"  Mr.  Robinson  inquired. 
"It  has  always  puzzled  me." 

"It  means  the  removal  of  all  taxes  on  consumption, 
which  bear  harder  on  the  poor  than  on  the  rich,  whicli 
raise  prices,  hinder  production  and  lower  wages,  by  con- 
centrating all  taxes  on  the  value  of  land.  It  is  a  just 
tax;  it  can  not  be  evaded;  all  that  it  costs  the  people 
goes  into  the  public  treasury." 

"That  is  a  simple  proposition,"  returned  the  young 
man. 

"Your  perplexity,"  Mr.  Jones  said,  "arises  from  the 
fact  that  Mr.  Henry  George  accepted  and  adopted  the 
title  'the  single  tax'  to  designate  his  own  theory.  The 
phrases  he  used  in  'Progress  and  Poverty'  correctly  de- 
scribed it.  In  italics  he  said  that  his  proposal  was  lto 
confiscate  renf  or  'to  appropriate  rent  by  taxation.''  If 


GOD'S  LAND  GRANTS.  177 

land  is  not  rightfully  private  property  (as  he  taught)  its 
rent  should  be  confiscated  or  appropriated.  But  confis- 
cation or  appropriation  is  not  taxation,  and  to  call  it  so 
is  confusing. 

"But  these  phrases,"  Mr.  Jones  added,  "were  not 
liked,  because  few  agreed  with  Mr.  George  that  land- 
owning is  robbery.  To  avoid  their  unpopularity,  he 
acquiesced  in  the  use  of  the  term  'single  tax. '  But  he 
called  his  own  theory  the  'unlimited  single  tax'  and  the 
real  single  tax  the  'limited  single  tax.'  As  taxes  are 
limited  by  the  real  or  imaginary  wants  of  government, 
the  two  phrases  were  as  absurd  as  'non-fluid  fluid'  and 
'fluid  fluid,'  and  they  have  passed  out  of  use. 

"As  a  remedy  for  the  evils  of  our  civilization,  he  pro- 
posed to  punish  as  a  crime  the  ownership  of  land,  which 
is  approved  by  the  human  conscience  everywhere  and 
always  and  by  the  word  of  God. 

"Moreover,  taxes  can  only  be  levied  upon  property; 
but  he  proposed  to  place  them  all  upon  land  while  deny- 
ing that  land  was  rightfully  property. 

"I  do  not  wonder,"  Mr.  Jones  concluded,  "that  you 
have  been  confused  by  such  a  jumble.  Thousands  of 
others  have  failed  to  'see  the  cat'  that  was  buried  in  so 
much  chaff.  But  the  single  tax  is  very  simple.  It 
would  repeal  all  unjust  taxes  and  discourage  the  holding 
of  land  idle  while  men  lack  homes  and  the  opportunity 
to  work." 

"All  property  should  be  taxed,"  said  Mr.  Eobinson. 

"There  are  several  objections  to  that,"  Mr.  Jones 
replied.  "One. is  that  it  can  not  be  done.  Many  kinds 
of  property  are  intangible;  the  good  will  of  a  news- 
paper, for  example,  is  worth  far  more,  will  sell  for 
more,  than  its  type  and  presses.  So  with  the  reputa 


178  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

tion  of  a  firm  or  of  a  patent  medicine,  or  the  copyright 
of  a  book.  Other  property  is  unknown  to  the  tax  assess- 
or and  is  easily  concealed  from  him,  as  loans,  ledger 
accounts,  bonds,  etc.  Other  property  is  of  uncertain 
value,  as  stocks  of  merchandise,  machinery,  furniture, 
etc. ,  in  assessing  which  the  rich  will  be  favored  because 
it  must  be  valued  at  the  lower  edge  of  the  margin  of 
doubt.  The  amount  of  other  property  will  be  decreased 
by  taxation.  If  bank  stock  is  taxed  the  amount  of  bank- 
ing capital  will  be  lessened;  and  the  same  is  true  of 
almost  all  property  which  is  the  result  of  human  labor. 
The  taxes  on  other  property  are  shifted  or  transferred 
till  they  are  largely  paid  by  the  poor.  The  single  tax  is 
a  strong  contrast  to  most  other  taxes ;  it  is  the  just  tax, 
the  righteous  tax,  the  fair  tax,  the  tax  that  will  check 
no  industry,  but  rather  help  all." 

"Will  it  not  increase  the  cost  and  raise  the  price  of 
farm  products?"  Mr.  Robinson  demanded. 

"Why  should  it?"  responded  Col.  Brown.  "It  is  a 
tax  on  the  value  of  land  and  not  on  the  acreage  in  culti- 
vation ;  and  as  land  values  are  so  largely  in  our  towns 
and  cities  it  will  be  a  city  as  well  as  a  country  tax.  It 
will  not  decrease  the  amount  of  land.  That  cannot  be 
removed  from  one  state  to  another  to  avoid  taxation. 
But  would  it  be  fair  to  those  who,  under  our  taxing 
customs,  have  invested  all  their  property  in  land  which 
is  largely  unproductive?" 

" 'Unproductive  land!' '  repeated  the  minister. 
"While  men  are  idle,  and  women  lack  bread,  how  fool- 
ish and  wrong  it  is,  and  it  is  solely  the  result  of  our 
methods  of  taxation.  But  in  answer  to  your  question, 
I  do  not  think  that  the  single  tax  would  work  any  hard- 
ship to  the  'land-poor.'  They  want  to  sell;  the  strong- 


GOD'S  LAND  GRANTS.  179 

est  desire  of  others  is  to  buy  and  own  land ;  and  when 
the  taxes  that  depress  industry  are  repealed  they  will  be 
able  to  gratify  this  desire.  The  single  tax  will  raise  the 
value  of  their  lands." 

"There  are  other  objections  urged,"  began  the  young 
lawyer. 

"Let  those  who  urge  them  propose  some  better  method 
for  carrying  out  the  plans  of  the  Deity  in  regard  to 
land,"  the  old  lawyer  said. 

"And  they  should  remember,  too,  that  those  who  reject 
the  teachings  of  the  Bible  about  land  reject  the  whole 
Bible,  and  those  who  disobey  God's  commands  about 
land  are  rebels  against  him,"  the  minister  added. 

There  was  a  pause  in  the  conversation,  which  Mr. 
Robinson  broke  by  saying:  "I  have  an  acknowledgment 
to  make,  Col.  Brown.  I  was  wrong  night  before  last. 
The  Bible  is  God's  book.  It  is  true,  altogether  true; 
just  as  true  in  what  it  says  about  this  world  as  in  what 
it  teaches  about  heaven.  If  I  can  risk  the  immortal 
destiny  of  my  soul  on  the  teachings  of  the  Bible,  I  cer- 
tainly should  be  willing  to  rest  the  temporal  prosperity 
of  my  country  on  them.  Colonel,  I  was  wrong, 
altogether  wrong." 

Col.  Brown  was  evidently  much  affected.  He  moved 
restlessly  in  his  chair,  searched  all  his  pockets  for  a 
handkerchief  and  blew  his  nose  loudly  and  repeatedly. 
At  last  he  said:  "This  does  you  great  credit,  Jack, 
great  credit.  It  is  a  noble  confession."  When  he  had 
recovered  from  his  agitation,  he  added:  "I  shall  tell 
this,  Jack,  to  the  young  lady  whom  I  have  selected  as 
Mrs.  Brown's  successor  in  case  I  am  left  a  widower." 

While  the  young  man  was  blushing,  Mr.  Jones  said: 
"Please  tell  the  present  Mrs.  Brown  too."  Reaching 


180  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

out  his  hand  and  laying  it  on  Col.  Brown's  knee,  he 
added:  "Not  only  will  the  Bible  secure  to  every  indus- 
trious man  a  home  of  his  own  here  on  earth,  where  he 
can  sit  under  his  own  vine  and  fig-tree,  but  it  will  give 
to  every  one  who  will  follow  its  directions  a  'place,,'  a 
'mansion'  specially  prepared  for  him  by  Jesus.  Promise 
me,  please,  that  you  will  pray  over  this  matter  and  try 
to  secure  the  place. "  - 

Col.  Brown  responded  in  a  low  tone:     "I  promise.     I 
will  do  it." 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

LABOK'S  BOOK. 

THE  Rev.  Jacob  Jones  met  Col.  Brown  near  the  door 
of  his  office  ten  days  later.  "Walk  in,"  said  the  Colonel, 
"I  have  good  news  for  you. "  When  they  were  seated  he 
added:  "I  took  your  advice  and  will  apply  for  admission 
into  the  Covenant  Church  at  the  next  quarterly  meet- 
ing." 

"You  have  had  a  change?" 

"Yes,  indeed;  I  can  say  with  Paul:  'Old  things  are 
passed  away;  behold,  all  things  are  become  new.'  ' 

"What  made  the  change?" 

"My  wife's  prayers  and  Jack  Robinson's  example," 
was  the  reply.  "He  is  a  good  lawyer  for  his  years.  He 
was  provoked  the  other  night  into  the  position  occupied 
generally  by  the  ministers  and  the  church — practical, 
every -day  disbelief  in  God  and  the  Bible.  When  he 
thought  it  over  he  renounced  this  unbelief;  and  this 
suggested  a  thought  new  to  me,  that  the  Bible  might  be 
the  message  of  the  Almighty  to  me;  and  I  kept  my 
promise  to  you,  Parson,  and  read  it  with  prayer,  and  I 
have  found  the  Savior." 

"My  advice  is,  'Forgetting  the  things  that  are  behind, 
press  forward,'  "  said  the  preacher. 

After  sitting  silently  a  little  while,  the  lawyer  said: 
"Your  subject  interests  me.  Let  us  resume  it." 

'  'The  labor  question  naturally  follows  the  land  ques- 
181 


182  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

tion,"  Mr.  Jones  remarked.  "The  Bible  principles  are 
so  plain,  almost  self-evident,  that  we  can  make  rapid 
progress. 

"Principle  19. — The   labor   question   is   a  religious 


"Why  so?"  asked  the  lawyer. 

"Because  the  laborers — and  by  laborers  we  mean  all 
who  labor  for  the  good  of  man  to  satisfy  human  wants — 
are  the  children  of  God,  made  in  his  image  and  like- 
ness," was  the  reply.  "In  dealing  with  them  we  deal 
with  their  Father  in  heaven." 

"Is  'religious'  the  word  you  want  to  describe  it?" 

"It  at  least  asserts  the  truth  that  the  question  should 
be  considered  in  the  fear  of  God  and  should  be  discussed 
and  settled  by  the  principles  of  his  revelation." 

"Of  what  use,  then,  is  political  economy?" 

"It  will  help  us  to  apply  the  Bible  principles  to  the 
labor  question.  But  the  sovereignty  is  in  the  Bible,  that 
is,  in  God,  and  not  in  political  economy." 

"No  theist  can  object  to  the  sovereignty  of  God,  and 
no  Christian  to  the  dominion  of  Christ.  What  next?" 

"Principle  20. — Every  man  lias  a  right  to  work. 

"The  proof  flows  from  human  abilities  and  needs. 
Every  man  has  a  pair  of  hands,  and  work  is  necessary  to 
his  physical,  mental  and  moral  health." 

"The  doctrine  seems  socialistic." 

"Not  at  all." 

"Would  you  have  the  government  furnish  work?" 

"Certainly  not.  It  has  none  to  give.  Its  sole  duty  is 
to  do  justice.  It  is  the  land  that  furnishes  work.  It  is 
as  natural  for  men  to  work  as  for  children  to  play.  All 


LABOR'S  BOOK.  183 

they  need  is  the  material  to  work  with,  and  the  land  is 
the  material.  All  that  government  should  do  is  to  let 
men  work.  If  allowed  they  will  work.  God  made  the 
land  to  be  peopled,  subdued  and  ruled  by  man,  that  is, 
for  man  to  work  upon  and  with.  Government,  as  the 
agent  of  the  real  Owner  of  the  land,  should  carry  out  his 
plan.  This  it  can  do  by  abolishing  unjust  taxation  and 
imposing  only  just  and  fair  taxes." 
"What  next?"  asked  the  lawyer. 

" Principle  21. — None  should  live  without  work." 

"The  proofs?  Eevelation  and  nature.  Paul  writes: 
'If  any  would  not  work,  neither  should  he  eat.'  Of 
course  he  does  not  refer  to  infants  and  invalids.  Nature, 
not  even  tropical  nature,  not  even  when  she  is  most  gen- 
erous, gives  to  none  the  comforts  of  life  without  work." 

"Is  not  that  communism?'' 

"No,  it  is  merely  and  simply  justice.  The  incomes 
that  come  to  their  owners  without  labor  are  derived 
chiefly  from  six  sources:  From  interest,  from  the  rent 
of  land,  from  the  private  ownership  of  natural  monopo- 
lies, from  trusts,  from  stealing  and  from  begging.  Most 
incomes  from  other  sources  require  labor.  The  merchant 
works  harder  than  his  clerks,  the  manufacturer  and 
large  planter  than  his  hands.  Their  work  is  of  a  differ- 
ent kind,  but  it  is  more  fatiguing;  the  manual  laborer 
sleeps  sounder.  Generally  I  suppose  they  earn  their 
incomes,  and  they  never  get  them  without  labor. 

"We  discussed  the  usury  question  at  Mr.  Smith's  the 
other  night,  and  the  best  modes  of  terminating  this 
injustice.  Just  taxation  would  very  greatly  reduce  the 
incomes  of  idle  landlords.  When  a  business  is  by  its 
very  nature  such  a  monopoly  that  only  one  man  or  com- 


184  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

pany  can  carry  it  on,  justice  requires  that  the  special 
privileges  required  by  it  should  not  be  given  away  to 
any  citizen,  but  should  be  used  by  the  public.  As  to 
trusts,  justice  will  kill  them. 

"Communism  demands  that  the  wealth  of  the  nation 
or  its  annual  product  be  divided  equally  among  all  the 
people.  Justice  will  give  to  all  according  to  their  work. 
It  is  the  only  remedy  for  the  evils  of  our  civilization 
that  is  needed.  Those  who  think  that  other  remedies 
will  be  needed  must  admit  that  it  should  be  tried  first." 

"As  to  stealing,"  Col.  Brown  remarked,  "it  should  be 
stopped,  of  course.  But  thieves  and  beggars  work  hard 
for  what  they  get." 

"As  it  is  not  productive  work,  it  is  not  labor  in  the 
economic  sense,"  said  Mr.  Jones.  "As  to  the  poverty 
caused  by  vice  or  idleness,  want  is  the  penalty  for  it 
decreed  by  God;  and  those  who  relieve  it  where  there 
is  no  promise  nor  prospect  of  reformation  would  display 
themselves  as  more  merciful  than  God  and  try  to  defeat 
his  justice." 

"If  radical,  you  are  right,"  replied  the  lawyer. 
"What  else?" 

"Principle  22. — Government  should  not  diminish  the 
wages  of  labor. ' ' 

"By  wages  we  mean  the  rewards  of  labor  performed 
to  satisfy  the  wants  of  men,  whether  called  wages, 
salaries  or  profits,"  the  minister  explained.  "The 
laborer  is  entitled  to  just  wages." 

"What  are  they?" 

"  'The  workman  is  worthy  of  his  meat.'  By  'meat' 
is  not  meant  a  bare  subsistence, — a  peck  of  cornmeal  and 
an  ounce  of  salt  a  week, — but  -all  the  comforts  of  life  that 


LABOR'S  BOOK.  185 

are  needed  to  maintain  the  self-respect  of  the  workman 
and  an  average  number  of  dependents.  This  is  the  best 
definition  I  can  give  of  fair  wages.  As  self-respect  is 
necessary  to  the  efficiency  of  the  laborer,  less  than  this 
lessens  his  work.  It  also  discourages  marriage." 

"As  the  average  number  depending  on  women  for 
support  is  smaller,  fair  wages  for  them,  I  judge  from 
your  definition,  would  be  less  than  those  for  men.  But 
how  does  government  lessen  wages?" 

"By  levying  taxes  and  granting  franchises  that 
increase  the  cost  of  the  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life," 
was  Mr.  Jones'  reply.  "It  is  for  these,  and  not  merely 
for  money,  that  men  work.  By  decreasing  the  amount 
of  money,  and  thus  making  money  wages  lower  and 
employment  more  precarious." 

"Cannot  government  raise  wages?" 

"It  can  take  from  some  and  give  to  others,  and  thus 
raise  some  wages ;  but  it  cannot  raise  all.  It  is  a  judge 
to  do  justice,  but  not  a  creator  to  make  wealth."  The 
minister  resumed : 

"Principle  S3. — Men  should  follow  manly,  and 
women  womanly  callings." 

"Your  Bible  is  handy — a  good  sign,  Colonel.  I 
draw  the  principle  from  Deuteronomy  22 :  5 : 

"  'The  woman  shall  not  wear  that  which  pertaineth 
unto  a  man,  neither  shall  a  man  put  on  a  woman's  gar- 
ment; for  all  that  do  so  are  abomination  unto  the  Lord 
thy  God.' 

"I  argue  from  the  less  to  the  greater,"  said  the 
preacher.  "If  it  is  an  abomination  to  Jehovah,  to 
Jesus,  for  a  man  to  wear  a  woman's  garment,  or  a 


186  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

woman  to  dress  in  a  man's  clothing,  it  must  be  a  greater 
abomination  for  him  to  follow  a  womanly  calling  and 
thus  lead  a  womanly  life,  or  for  her  to  adopt  a  man's 
trade  and  thus  follow  a  man's  life." 

"Modern  industry  knows  little  of  sex,  and  knows  less 
every  year." 

"Is  it  well  for  boys  and  girls,  for  men  and  women,  to 
work  to'gether,  all  day  and  every  day,  in  the  factories, 
shops,  stores,  offices?  It  may  have  some  good  results, 
but  it  has  also  bad  ones,  which  will  in  the  end  over- 
balance the  good.  Aside  from  this,  -the  competition  is 
cruel  and  heartless.  The  girl  who  never  expects  to  sup- 
port a  family,  who  is  perhaps  supported  by  her  father, 
can  work  cheaper  than  the  boy.  The  women  take  less 
wages  than  men.  The  competition  reduces  men's  wages 
without  raising  women's  wages. 

"The  competition  of  the  men  is  less  injurious  to  the 
women.  But  they  capture  the  prizes  in  some  woman's 
trades,  as  cooking,  dress-making  and  the  retailing  of 
dry  goods." 

"What  can  the  government  do  to  remedy  this  evil?" 
asked  the  lawyer. 

"Nothing  at  all,"  was  the  reply.  "As  the  people  are 
the  supreme  earthly  interpreters  of  the  higher  law,  civil 
government  is  helpless  in  the  present  state  of  public 
opinion." 

"Could  not  the  church  teach  which  occupations  are 
honorable  for  men  and  modest  for  women?" 

"It  could,  but  it  will  not.  To  do  it  would  add  noth- 
ing to  its  present  popularity  or  wealth.  Any  minister 
who  would  attempt  it  would  have  a  heavy  cross  and 
would  have  to  follow  Christ  out  of  his  ecclesiastical 
camp." 


LABOR'S  BOOK.  187 

"I  would  call  such  indifference  to  a  grave  evil,  which 
is  injuring  both  men  and  women,  heartless." 

"The  ministers  call  it  'spirituality.'  ' 

"This  suggests  a  question  important  to  me,"  remarked 
Col.  Brown.  "Ought  I  to  join  the  church  while  it  is  so 
heartless?" 

"Christ's  example  settles  that  question.  He  attended 
the  synagogues  and  worshiped  in  the  temple  while  its 
rulers  were  hypocrites  and  a  generation  of  vipers." 

After  a  slight  pause  Mr.  Jones  added: 

"Principle  24. — Manual  labor  is  Christ-like. 

"In  his  youth  Jesus  was  a  carpenter,  doing  coarse 
work  with  rude  tools,  sitting  on  the  ground.  The  last 
work  he  did  was  the  most  manual,  the  most  servile  work 
known  in  his  age,  washing  feet  soiled  with  country  dust 
and  city  mire.  He  was  clad  only  in  a  tunic  and  girded 
with  a  towel.  I  wish  that  a  true  picture  of  Christ  wash- 
ing the  feet  of  the  disciples  were  hung  in  every  parlor, 
kitchen  and  work-shop  in  our  land." 

"I  have  heard  ministers  say  that  he  meant  to  teach 
humility  by  that  act." 

"It  was  trifling  with  God's  word.  He  did  teach 
humility,  but  the  main  lesson  is  that  manual  work  is 
honorable.  It  is  a  lesson  that  our  people  need  to  learn. 
Our  boys  become  lawyers,  doctors,  clerks,  to  earn  less 
wages  than  they  would  as  mechanics,  because  they  dis- 
like manual  work.  Our  girls,  as  typewriters,  shop-girls 
and  factory  hands,  earn  less,  considering  their  extra 
expenses,  than  they  would  as  nurses,  cooks  and  house- 
maids, for  the  same  reason." 

"What  remedy  would  you  suggest?" 

"The  celebration  of  'labor  day'  is  a  step  forward. 


188  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

Perhaps  we  might  take  a  hint  from  the  emperor  of 
China,  who  at  the  beginning  of  spring  holds  the  plough 
in  the  presence  of  his  court,  to  show  that  farm -work  is 
honorable. 

"I  have  one  more  maxim: 

"Principle  25. — The  fourth  commandment  is  chiefly 
an  industrial  or  labor  law. 

"Secondarily  it  is  a  law  of  worship.  It  resembles 
other  commandments  in  having  a  double  character. 
Thus  the  third  commandment  forbids  both  irreverence 
and  perjury;  the  fifth  commands  both  obedience  to 
parents  and  love  to  God;  and  the  sixth  forbids  both 
murder  and  anger.  The  error  of  the  church  is  in  mak- 
ing that  primary  in  the  fourth  commandment  which  is 
secondary. ' ' 

"What  are  the  proofs  that  the  fourth  commandment 
is  mainly  a  labor  law?" 

"First,  its  institution  before  man  needed  to  repent  or 
believe.  Secondly,  its  terms :  of  its  eleven  parts  only 
two  can  be  applied  to  worship,  and  the  application  of 
these  to  worship  is  obscure.  Thirdly,  those  are 
enjoined  to  keep  the  Sabbath  who  are  incapable  of  wor- 
ship, as  the  cattle.  Fourthly,  the  reasons  annexed  to  it 
both  in  Exodus  and  Deuteronomy.  The  first  is  that 
God  rested,  and  the  other  is  that  servants  may  rest. 
Fifthly,  the  Mosaic  worship  of  God  was  to  be  performed 
at  a  central  place,  to  which  the  men  were  to  resort  only 
three  times  a  year,  but  the  Sabbath  was  to  be  observed 
weekly.  Sixthly,  the  Sabbath -breaker  in  the  desert  was 
capitally  punished,  but  the  Bible  does  not  authorize  civil 
penalties  for  religious  errors.  Seventhly,  Christ  teaches 
that  'The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man,'  not  for  God;  and 


LABOR'S  BOOK.  189 

the  primary  needs  of  man  are  bodily,  physical.  He  does 
not  live  by  bread  alone;  but  he  needs  bread  first  in 
order  to  pray.  So  the  Sabbath  day  must  first  be  rescued 
from  toil  before  it  can  be  devoted  to  worship. 

"It  follows  that  laws  against  Sabbath -breaking  are  no 
more  religious  than  laws  against  murder  or  stealing  or 
arson." 

"This  is  the  chief  obstacle  in  the  way  of  enforcing 
the  Sunday  laws,"  Col.  Brown  remarked.  "They  are 
regarded  as  religious  laws,  and  Sabbath-breaking  is 
thought  of  solely  as  a  sin  against  God." 

"These  false  notions  about  Sunday  laws  and  Sabbath- 
breaking  are  the  effect  of  the  preachers  dwelling  on  one 
application  of  the  command  alone,  and  that  the  least 
important,"  said  the  minister.  "As  the  religious 
teachers  of  the  Jews  made  the  fifth  commandment  of 
no  effect  by  their  traditions,  so  by  their  interpreta- 
tions our  religious  teachers  destroy  God's  great  labor 
law.  The  advantages  of  a  weekly  day  of  rest,  moral, 
mental,  religious,  physical,  are  innumerable  and 
incalculable.  The  Sabbath  is  the  home  day  of  the 
laborers  in  which  they  become  acquainted  with  their 
children  and  train  them.  It  is  their  gymnasium  in 
which  tired  muscles  are  strengthened  by  rest.  It  is  the 
people's  university  in  which  they  can  spend  four  years 
out  of  every  twenty-eight  in  the  study  of  the  most 
elevating  topics  and  the  greatest  authors  the  world  has 
ever  known,  the  character  of  the  Deity,  man's  origin, 
duties  and  destiny ;  Isaiah,  the  most  sublime  of  poets ; 
David,  the  sweetest  of  singers ;  Moses,  the  most  instruc- 
tive of  historians ;  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke  and  John,  the 
best  biographers,  and  Paul,  the  greatest  philosopher. 
It  is  the  cradle  and  the  fortress  of  constitutional  liberty. 


190  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

By  it  the  'hand'  became  a  man  and  a  patriot.  It  is 
the  crown  of  onr  civilization. 

"Therefore  whoever  invades  it  with  secular  labor  is  a 
traitor  to  liberty  and  a  foe  to  labor.  His  punishment 
should  be  certain  and  swift.  But  by  teaching  exclu- 
sively and  only  that  it  is  a  day  of  worship,  the  church 
protects  the  enemies  of  our  liberties  and  our  industries. 
It  does  not  secure  the  religious  observance  of  the  day  by 
its  one-sided  teaching.  My  teacher  in  theology,  grand 
Dr.  Robert  L.  Dabney,  well  said:  'There  is  perhaps  no 
subject  of  Christian  practice  on  which  there  is,  among 
sincere  Christians,  more  practical  diversity  and  laxity 
of  conscience  than  the  duty  of  Sabbath  observance.' 
He  did  not  discover  its  cause.  One-sided  teaching  will 
not  produce  fully  rounded  character  or  conduct. 

"There  is  no  crime,"  continued  Mr.  Jones,  "which it 
is  more  necessary  for  the  state  to  punish  than  Sabbath- 
breaking.  It  is  easier  for  one  to  be  honest  among 
thieves,  amiable  among  murderers,  or  pure  among 
adulterers,  than  to  rest  among  Sabbath -breakers." 

"But  the  toilers  need  recreation,"  the  lawyer  objected. 
"Those  who  have  been  shut  up  in  factories  require 
fresh  air,  and  those  who  have  had  no  time  to  read 
demand  the  Sunday  papers.  To  supply  these  wants 
some  must  work." 

"As  long  as  they  use  the  Sabbath  for  these  purposes 
they  will  have  no  other  time  for  them.  When  the 
crime  of  Sabbath -breaking  is  suppressed  by  justice  we 
shall  have  a  Saturday  half -holiday,  in  which  the  cities 
will  empty  themselves  into  the  country  and  the  mam- 
moth papers  will  be  sold. 

"God's  zeal  for  labor  is  an  example  which  his  min- 
isters, the  civil  magistrates,  should  follow.  The  loun- 


LABOR'S  BOOK.  191 

dations  of  ethics,  of  morality,  are  the  character  of  God, 
the  worship  of  God  and  reverence  for  God.  As  soon  as 
these  foundations  were  laid  in  the  first  three  command- 
ments, Jehovah,  first  of  all,  ordained  that  all  laborers, 
even  the  slaves,  the  cattle  and  the  strangers,  should 
have  a  rest-day  every  week." 

"Come  to-morrow  night,  Brother  Jones,  and  we 
will  have  another  chat.  Come  before  tea,"  said  Col. 
Brown,  as  a  client  entered  his  office. 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

NATURAL   AND    ARTIFICIAL   MONOPOLIES. 

NEXT  evening  a  very  cheerful  party  assembled  early 
at  Col.  Brown's  house.  All  had  heard  the  good  news 
about  him,  and  the  gladness  of  the  "first  love"  infected 
them  all.  There  were  Col.  and  Mrs.  Brown,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  John  Smith  and  Miss  Jenny  Smith,  the  Rev. 
Jacob  Jones  and  John  Robinson,  Esq. 

"Our  topic  to-night  is  monopolies  and  trusts,"  said 
Mr.  Jones.  "The  trusts  are  artificial  monopolies, 
created  and  sustained  by  public  injustice.  The  others 
are  natural  monopolies,  because  of  the  very  nature  of 
their  business,  because  it  can  all  be  done  better  and 
cheaper  by  one  company  than  by  two  or  more. " 

"Please  illustrate,"  said  Miss  Jenny. 

"Street-car  lines  are  a  natural  monopoly,  because 
there  is  in  most  city  streets  only  room  for  one  company 
to  lay  its  rails,  but  chiefly  because  one  company  can 
carry  all  the  passengers  better  and  more  cheaply  than 
two  companies  can.  If  there  are  two  companies,  there 
will  be  the  expense  of  a  double  administration  and  a 
double  plant,  without  any  corresponding  advantage. 
The  post-office  is  another  illustration  of  a  natural 
monopoly.  One  post-office  can  carry  all  the  letters ;  two 
could  do  no  more  at  nearly  double  the  cost." 

"Are  there  many  such  natural  monopolies?"  Miss 
Jenny  inquired. 

192 


NATURAL  AND  ARTIFICIAL  MONOPOLIES.  193 

"A  great  many,"  was  the  reply,  "and  their  number 
is  increasing.  I  will  name  some:  Street  railways,  ele- 
vated railroads,  underground  railroads,  streets,  gas- 
works, water -works,  electric  lights,  telephones,  electric 
power  in  our  cities;  public  roads  and  turnpikes,  canals, 
railroads,  telegraphs,  the  post-office,  the  express  busi- 
ness, pipe  lines,  etc.,  in  the  country;  the  administration 
of  justice,  the  preservation  of  order  and  the  public 
defense  in  civil  affairs." 

"Is  our •  judicial  system  a  natural  monopoly?"  Mr. 
Robinson  asked. 

"It  is  a  business,  a  most  useful  factor  in  production, 
since  without  some  metho'd  of  peaceably  settling  the  dis- 
putes that  arise  no  work  could  be  done,"  was  the  reply. 
"One  judicial  system  is  better  than  two;  so  it  is  a  nat- 
ural monopoly.  The  public  defense  is  another.  When 
the  Indians  threatened  one  of  the  territories  all  business 
stopped,  and  one  army  and  navy  is  more  efficient  than 
half  a  dozen.  Why  not  commit  them  to  corporations? 
A  syndicate  of  lawyers  would  administer  justice,  and  the 
Pinkertons  would  contract  for  preserving  domestic 
peace  and  defense  against  foreign  foes." 

"You  must  be  joking,  Mr.  Jones,"  said  Mrs.  Brown. 
"The  idea  of  putting  the  administration  of  justice  into 
private  hands  is  horrible!" 

"Why  should  you  suspect  me  of  jesting?"  asked  Mr. 
Jones.  "Is  the  supply  of  justice  more  important  than 
that  of  light;  public  peace  than  water;  the  carrying  of 
letters  than  the  carrying  of  packages  or  freight  or  pas- 
sengers? Yet  we  give  the  latter  to  private  parties." 

"But  it  would  cause  so  much  corruption  if  we  gave 
the  courts  to  a  corporation,"  Mrs.  Smith  objected. 

"Certainly  it  would,"  the  minister  admitted.     "The 


194  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

syndicate  of  lawyers  would  always  be  compelled  to  exert 
an  influence  over  the  legislature  in  order  to  defend 
their  special  privileges.  And  this  is  true  also  of  gas 
companies,  water  companies,  railroad  companies,  and  all 
other  owners  of  special  privileges.  Let  me  ask  a 
question:  Why  are  our  municipal  governments  a  stench 
in  our  nostrils  and  a  disgrace  to  us  before  the  world?" 

"It  is  because  the  powers  of  evil  are  better  organized 
than  the  powers  of  good,"  answered  Mr.  Robinson. 

"Why  are  they  not  so  well  organized  -in  foreign 
cities?"  was  the  parson's  reply. 

"It  is  because  there  are  so  many  Roman  Catholics  in 
the  cities,"  said  Miss  Jenny. 

"There  are  more  in  Rome  and  in  Paris  than  in  New 
York,"  rejoined  Mr.  Jones. 

"The  cause  lies  in  the  large  foreign  population,"  sug- 
gested Mrs.  Brown. 

"The  foreign  population  of  London  is  as  great  as  that 
of  New  York,"  was  the  response. 

"What  is  it?"  asked  Col.  Brown. 

"The  private  ownership  of  natural  monopolies,  which 
are  more  developed  here  than  abroad,  is  one  cause  of 
it,"  Mr.  Jones  explained.  "The  street -car  company 
intends  to  pay  low  wages  for  long  hours  and  expects 
strikes.  It  must  have  a  friendly  mayor  and  chief  of 
police  if  it  exhausts  its  bank  account  to  get  them." 

"But,"  Mrs.  Brown  asked,  "do  you  really  think  that 
the  administration  of  justice  should  be  committed  to  a 
syndicate  of  lawyers?" 

Her  husband  answered:  "His  argument  is  that  it  is  a 
natural  monopoly,  and  if  it  would  be  shocking  to  give 
it  into  private  hands,  it  is  wrong  to  put  other  natural 
monopolies  into  private  hands." 


NATURAL  AND  ARTIFICIAL  MONOPOLIES.  195 

"But  for  the  state  to  make  gas,  to  carry  passengers, 
freight  or  packages,  etc.,  is  paternalism,  is  socialism," 
Mr.  Kobinson  said. 

"No  more  so  than  to  administer  justice,"  was  the 
reply.  "The  business  that  is  by  its  very  nature 
monopolistic  should  be  done  by  the  state.  A  business 
that  can  be  done  by  only  one  should  be  done  by  the 
state.  Special  exclusive  privileges  should  be  granted  to 
none." 

"You  take  the  position,  if  I  understand  you,"  the 
Colonel  remarked,  "that  the  private  possession  of  nat- 
ural monopolies  is  wrong,  first,  because  justice  forbids 
that  exclusive  privileges  should  be  bestowed  upon  any; 
and,  secondly,  because  the  possession  of  such  exclusive 
privileges  always  and  necessarily  leads  to  political  cor- 
ruption." 

"I  go  further  than  that,"  was  the  reply.  "My  maxim 
is: 

"Principle  26. — The  private  ownership  of  natural 
monopolies  is  a  violation  of  the  command,  *  Thou  shalt 
not  steals  " 

"You  will  need  strong  proof  for  that,"  Col.  Brown 
said.  "If  true,  the  capitalists  who  have  endowed  so 
many  universities  and  theological  seminaries  are  thieves ; 
those  who  have  granted  charters  to  railroad  and  other 
like  corporations  are  their  accomplices,  and  the  people 
are  little  better." 

"My  proof  is  the  interpretation  of  the  eighth  com- 
mandment which  is  adopted  by  half  the  Protestant 
world  and  accepted  by  the  other  half."  And  taking  a 
catechism  from  his  pocket,  Mr.  Jones  read  as  follows : 


196  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

44  'The  eighth  commandment  requireth  the  lawful  pro- 
curing and  furthering  the  wealth  and  outward  estate  of 
ourselves  and  others. 

"  4The  eighth  commandment  forbiddeth  whatsoever 
doth  or  may  unjustly  hinder  our  own  or  our  neighbor's 
wealth  or  outward  estate.' 

"The  commandment  forbids  our  charging  more  or  less 
for  any  service  than  it  is  worth,  or  paying  others  more 
or  less  than  their  services  are  worth,"  the  minister 
explained.  "When  a  natural  monopoly  is  owned  by  a 
private  corporation  it  is  an  accident,  a  mere  chance, 
when  the  command  is  obeyed.  There  are  a  thousand 
chances  to  one  that  the  eighth  commandment  will  be 
broken  in  any  given  case." 

4 'Please  explain,"  said  Miss  Jenny. 

44 We  will  take  two  cases  to  illustrate — a  business  that 
is  not  a  natural  monopoly  and  one  that  is,"  Mr.  Jones 
replied.  44If  Mr.  Smith  charges  too  much  for  selling 
calico,  we  go  to  Jackson's ;  if  Jackson  charges  too  much 
for  his  services,  we  try  Jenkins.  If,  again,  the  Atlantic 
Mills  charge  too  much  for  spinning  and  weaving  the 
calico,  Mr.  Smith  buys  of  the  Palmetto  or  the  Pacific  or 
the  Hoosier  Mills.  So  that  in  the  selling  of  calico  and 
in  other  businesses  and  trades  which  are  not  monopolies, 
we  pay  just  about  what  is  right,  and  the  eighth  com- 
mandment is  not  broken. 

"The  natural  monopoly  we  take  for  an  illustration  is 
the  street-car  system  of  Indianapolis,  a  city  covering  a 
wide  extent  of  ground,  whose  citizens  are  thus  forced  to 
make  use  of  the  street  cars.  As  long  as  this  monopoly 
is  private  property  it  will  charge  the  citizens  either  more 
or  less  than  the  service  is  worth,  but  as  soon  as  it 
becomes  the  property  of  the  city  its  charges  will  be  just." 


NATURAL  AND  ARTIFICIAL  MONOPOLIES.    197 

"That  is  a  strong  assertion,"  began  Col.  Brown. 

1  'Remember,"  Mr.  Jones  interrupted  him,  "that  the 
people  of  Indianapolis  are  the  only  ones  interested  in  the 
car -fares ;  the  rest  of  the  people  of  the  United  States 
do  not  on  an  average  spend  one  cent  a  year  in  car-fares 
in  that  city.  The  legislature  of  Indiana,  governor, 
senate  and  house,  after  carefully  considering  the  matter 
in  every  light,  decided  that  three  cents  was  the  righteous 
car-fare.  A  federal  judge,  after  hearing  all  that  could 
be  said  on  both  sides,  decided  that  five  cents  was  the 
righteous  fare." 

"A  small  matter — only  two  cents,"  said  Jack  Robin- 
son. 

"It  makes  a  difference  of  twenty-five  or  fifty  dollars  a 
year  to  an  average  family,  enough  to  buy  school  books 
and  school  clothing  for  a  couple  of  children,"  was  the 
reply.  "And  picking  pockets  is  stealing  just  as  much 
as  burglary.  Whether  the  legislature  or  the  judge  was 
right,  whether  three  cents  or  five  cents  is  the  just  fare, 
there  is  no  means  of  determining.  It  is  merely  an 
accident  if  the  monopoly  does  not  collect  more  or  less 
than  is  due  it." 

"You  put  it  very  mildly,  indeed,"  Col.  Brown 
exclaimed.  "If  it  got  less  it  would  stop  its  cars  very 
quickly.  It  is  certain  to  take  more." 

"But  if  the  monopoly  belonged  to  the  city,"  the 
minister  resumed,  "there  is  no  injustice  done  by  either 
high  or  low  fares.  If  the  fares  are  too  high,  the  money 
goes  into  the  city  treasury  and  will  be  used  in  one  way 
or  another  for  the  advantage  of  those  who  have  paid  the 
fares.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  fares  are  too  low,  the 
deficit  must  be  made  up  by  those  who  have  profited  by 
them. 


198  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

4 'In  either  case  substantial  justice  is  done — not  per- 
haps exact  justice,  for  that  cannot  be  expected. 

"As  there  is  no  clashing  of  interests,  the  citizens  can 
approach  the  question  of  the  proper  car-fare  in  a  calm 
and  judicial  frame  of  mind  and  will  be  likely  to  reach  a 
righteous  decision.  The  ownership  of  natural  monop- 
olies by  the  public  interested  in  them  is  honest;  any 
other  ownership  of  them  is  in  violation  of  the  "eighth 
commandment. " 

"There  are  some  monopolies  that  the  public  may  not 
care  to  use,"  Mr.  Robinson  objected.  "A  town  may 
not  feel  rich  enough  to  build  water-works  which  yet 
would  be  a  great  benefit." 

"Better  to  suffer  an  inconvenience  than  to  break  the 
eighth  commandment,"  said  the  minister. 

"It  was  in  this  way,"  the  old  lawyer  replied,  "that 
most  oppressive  monopolies  began.  Franchises  that 
seemed  to  be  worth  nothing  and  were  given  away  to  the 
shrewd  and  cunning  are  grinding  the  faces  of  the  poor." 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

THE    KAILROADS. 

THE  tea  bell  rang  and  Col.  Brown  led  the  way  into  the 
dining-room,  where  the  table  was  spread  with  fried 
chicken,  coffee,  hot  biscuit,  butter,  peach  butter,  black- 
berry jelly,  quince  preserves,  boiled  custard  and  pound 
cake.  After  these  things  had  been  enjoyed,  and  when 
the  company  had  returned  to  the  parlor,  Col.  Brown 
remarked: 

"We  were  talking  about  natural  monopolies." 

4'The  railroads,"  said  Mr.  Jones,  "are  another  illus- 
tration of  the  truth  that  the  private  ownership  of  natural 
monopolies  is  a  violation  of  the  eighth  commandment. 
They  are  unjust  to  all,  to  passengers,  to  employes,  to 
shippers,  to  towns,  to  their  stockholders  and  to  the 
government." 

44 A  sweeping  charge,"  said  Jack  Robinson. 

4 'The  passenger  fares  are  arbitrary,"  resumed  Mr. 
Jones.  "There  are  a  thousand  chances  to  one  that  they 
are  not  reasonable,  for  there  is  no  means,  no  impartial 
tribunal,  to  determine  what  the  honest  fares  would  be." 

44 Can  they  not  find  out  how  much  it  costs  to  carry  a 
passenger?"  asked  Miss  Jenny. 

4 'No,  they  cannot.  To  carry  one  passenger  from 
Philadelphia  to  New  York  would  cost  as  much  as  to 
carry  a  thousand,  if  the  railroad  men  did  not  know  by 
what  route  he  wished  to  go  and  on  what  day  and  at  what 

199 


200  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

hour,  and  whether  he  wished  to  ride  in  a  smoking,  pas- 
senger or  Pullman  car,  and  at  what  station  he  would  get 
on,  and  whether  he  would  require  a  meal  on  the  road. 
If  the  fare  between  the  two  cities  were  a  hundred  dollars, 
the  passengers  would  be  very  few.  Every  reduction  in 
the  fare  increases  the  number  of  passengers  and  reduces 
the  average  cost  per  passenger.  A  private  company 
which  has  to  look  for  immediate  profits  cannot  settle  the 
question. 

"The  railroads  are  unjust  to  their  hands,"  Mr.  Jones 
continued.  "They  deprive  them  of  Sabbath  rest,  which 
is  their  inalienable  right.  They  neglect,  year  after  year, 
to  provide  proper  safety  appliances,  railings  along  the 
sides  of  the  tops  of  freight  cars,  automatic  couplers  and 
air-brakes  on  freight  cars,  so  that  thousands  of  their 
hands  are  injured  and  hundreds  killed  every  year.  In 
case  of  strikes  they  excite  public  odium  against  the 
strikers. 

"They  treat  shippers  very  dishonestly.  To  large 
shippers  they  give  lower  rates — sometimes  rates  that  are 
really  unremunerative — and  quicker  dispatch  than  they 
give  to  smaller  shippers.  Their  course  is  a  strong  con- 
trast to  the  post-office.  The  man  that  mails  one  letter 
and  the  firm  which  mails  a  thousand,  the  newspapers 
that  send  tons  of  paper  to  the  office  and  those  which 
print  small  editions,  pay  the  same  postage  and  have 
equal  dispatch. 

"As  it  is  impossible  to  discover  the  actual  cost  of 
carrying  a  passenger,  so  it  is  impossible  to  discover  the 
actual  cost  of  hauling  a  ton  of  freight.  If  the  freight 
cars  go  empty  it  seems  to  cost  nothing  or  next  to  noth- 
ing to  haul  the  freight.  There  are  a  thousand  chances 
to  one  that  the  charge  will  be  unreasonable ;  the  eighth 


THE  RAILROADS.  201 

commandment  requires  that  it  be  just,  neither  too  much 
nor  too  little." 

"Would  not  the  difficulty  remain  if  the  railroads  were 
public  property?"  Mr.  Smith  objected. 

"At  any  rate  there  would  be  no  discrimination 
between  shippers  and  no  such  trusts  as  have  resulted 
from  such  discrimination,"  replied  Col.  Brown. 

"Mr.  A.  B.  Stickney,  a  railroad  man  of  long  experi- 
ence," Mr.  Jones  answered,  "compares  freight  rates  to 
the  tariff  duties  on  imports.  The  duties  are  imposed  to 
pay  the  interest  on  the  public  debts  and  the  running 
expenses  of  government;  the  freight  tolls  are  to  pay 
interest  on  railway  debts  and  the  operating  expenses  of 
the  railroads.  The  duties  amount  to  $200,000,000,  the 
tolls  to  $700,000,000  a  year.  The  duties  are  paid  by 
importers,  the  tolls  by  consignees.  Both  duties  and 
tolls  are  added  to  the  original  cost  of  the  goods.  Both 
are  ultimately  paid  by  the  consumer.  Both  increase  the 
cost  of  some  goods  materially.  Both  are  imposed  with- 
out reference  to  the  cost ;  it  takes  no  more  time  in  the 
custom-house  to  examine  the  goods  on  which  there  is  a 
high  duty  than  those  on  which  the  duty  is  low,  and  it 
takes  no  more  coal  to  haul  fjrst  than  fifth-class  freight. 
Both  duties  and  tolls  look  to  revenue  alone.  If  Mr. 
Stickney  is  right,  the  freight  charges  under  government 
control  would  be  substantially  honest.  The  people  pay 
them  now  indirectly  every  time  they  go  to  a  store.  If 
too  high,  the  extra  revenue  would  be  used  for  then- 
benefit;  if  too  low,  they  would  save  in  their  purchases. 

"The  railroads  are  unjust  to  localities.  Their  dis- 
crimination in  favor  of  the  cities  crowds  population  into 
them.  'Instead  of  allowing  the  artisan  to  live  in  the 
smaller  town,'  says  Mr.  Stickney,  'where  it  might  be 


202  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

possible  for  him  to  own  his  home,  and  with  moderate 
expense  rear  his  family  in  the  quiet  and  amid  the  virtues 
of  the  country,  it  compels  him  to  live  in  the  vicious 
tenement  house  of  the  crowded  city.  His  children  have 
reeking  pavements  instead  of  green  fields  for  a  play- 
ground ;  and  their  ears  are  greeted  with  coarse  profanity 
and  vulgar  language  instead  of  the  songs  of  birds.'  ' 

"Modern  inventions,  the  telephone,  electric  cars, 
electric  power,  would  scatter  factories  and  population 
and  stop  the  growth  of  cities,  if  some  other  force  did 
not  prevent,"  said  Jack  Robinson. 

4 'That  force  is  railway  competition."  Mr.  Jones 
continued:  "The  fact  that  one-third  or  one-half  of  our 
railroads  have  gone  into  the  hands  of  receivers,  have 
failed,  although  possessing  exclusive  privileges,  is  a  proof 
of  dishonest  mismanagement.  The  interests  of  the 
managers  are  frequently,  perhaps  generally,  opposed  to 
those  of  the  stockholders.  Large  salaries  will  enrich 
them  and  impoverish  the  stockholders.  Organizing 
themselves  into  construction  or  car  or  fast  freight  or 
coal  or  lumber  companies,  they  can  make  profitable  con- 
tracts with  themselves.  By  raising  or  lowering  the 
value  of  the  stock,  they  can  make  fortunes  on  the  stock 
exchange.  They  can  'wreck'  a  railroad  and  become  its 
owners.  Their  temptations  are  numerous  and  often 
specious." 

"It  is  not  necessary  to  enlarge  on  that  point,"  Col. 
Brown  said.  "Gov.  Larrabee's  book,  'The  Railroad 
Question,'  is  well  known,  and  has  made  the  public 
familiar  with  this  subject." 

"The  railroads  are  unjust  to  the  government,"  Mr. 
Jones  resumed.  "Railroad  corruption  is  notorious. 
Their  frauds  in  carrying  the  mails  are  less  known. 


THE  RAILROADS.  203 

They  perform  like  service  for  the  express  companies  and 
the  post-office;  but  they  charge  the  government  eight 
times  as  much  as  the  express ;  and  moreover  furnish  the 
express  with  cars  free  of  charge  and  charge  the  govern- 
ment an  exorbitant  rental  for  postal  cars." 

"You  make  the  railroad  men  robbers,  regular  villains," 
said  Mrs.  Brown. 

"No,  madam,"  was  the  reply.  "The  men  are  better 
than  the  system.  You  and  I  would  do  no  better  in 
their  place — we  might  do  worse.  The  system — the 
private  ownership  of  natural  monopolies — is  a  violation 
of  the  law,  cThou  shalt  not  steal.'  The  tree  is  evil  and 
must  bear  fruit  according  to  its  nature.  The  remedy  is 
to  4lay  the  axe  at  the  root  of  the  tree. '  ' 

"The  practical  difficulties  in  the  way  of  applying  the 

principle  to  present  conditions "  began  Col.  Brown, 

after  a  pause. 

"Are  very  great  indeed,"  said  Mr.  Jones,  completing 
the  sentence.  "So  are  the  difficulties  of  applying  the 
law  or  principle  of  gravitation  to  the  building  of  houses, 
ships,  clocks  and  balloons,  very  great.  But  the  archi- 
tect, ship-builder,  clock-maker  or  aeronaut  who  should 
therefore  resolve  to  neglect  that  principle  in  his  work 
would  fail  in  his  efforts." 

"Is  it  not  stretching  the  principle  that  the  govern- 
ment should  do  justice  to  make  it  compel  the  state  to 
purchase  the  natural  monopolies?"  was  a  question  from 
Mr.  Robinson. 

"I  believe  not,"  was  Col.  Brown's  reply.  "The  laws 
now  not  only  forbid  robbery,  but  fraud.  Forgery  and 
obtaining  money  under  false  pretenses  are  as  much 
crimes  as  burglary  or  grand  or  petit  larceny.  If  the 
private  ownership  of  natural  monopolies  is  always,  nee- 


204  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

essarily,  a  fraud  on  all  the  people,  the  state's  duty  of 
stopping  fraud  applies  to  them.  And  if  the  government 
ownership  is  the  surest  or  best  remedy,  it  leads  to  that. 
Of  course  the  principle  does  not  imply  confiscation  or 
the  repudiation  of  obligations." 

"By  no  means,"  said  Mr.  Jones.  "We  must  keep 
our  word.  But  if  bondholders  or  stockholders  should 
refuse  to  exchange  their  stock  or  bonds  for  government 
bonds,  the  interest  and  principal  of  which  would  be  paid 
out  of  the  earnings  of  the  natural  monopolies — an  event 
which  is  unlikely — the  government  has  the  power  to 
take  any  private  property  for  public  use  by  paying  for  it 
a  fair  price.  Justice,  justice  alone,  is  the  full  remedy 
for  our  political  evils." 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

THE   TRUSTS. 

surprises  me,  Mr.  Jones,"  said  Miss  Jenny, 
1  'is  that  you  have  said  nothing  about  the  golden  rule, 
nothing  about  the  commandment,  'Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself.'  Most  of  the  ministers  whom  I 
have  heard  or  read  on  our  social  problems  have  said 
much  about  them." 

"There  are  two  reasons  for  their  doing  so,"  was  the 
reply.  "One  is  that  they  can  pronounce  eulogiums 
upon  the  golden  rule  without  injuring  themselves;  but 
if  they  denounced  the  sins  of  interest,  of  unjust  and 
oppressive  taxation,  of  the  private  ownership  of  natural 
monopolies  or  of  the  existence  of  trusts,  they  would  be 
thought  cranks  and  would  lose  reputation  and  money. 
The  other  reason  is  that  their  regular  occupation  is  to 
preach  the  Gospel  and  not  law ;  and  they  very  naturally 
fall  into  the  error  of  thinking  that  the  Gospel,  that  the 
golden  rule  is  the  solution  of  the  problems  of  our 
civilization." 

"Is  it  not  so?"  Mrs.  Smith  asked. 

"It  is  not,"  was  the  response.  "Law,  and  not  love, 
justice  and  not  mercy,  is  the  solution.  The  Gospel 
belongs  to  the  church,  justice  to  the  state.  When  the 
state  has  laid  the  foundation  of  justice  the  church  can 
rear  on  it  a  temple  of  love  and  mercy  large  enough  to 
shelter  every  child  of  Adam.  But  justice  is  the  only 
foundation  on  which  love  can  stand.  Amid  injustice, 

205 


206  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE 

love  dies,  piety  decays,  the  church  becomes  an  abode  of 
phariseeism  and  formalism.  Justice,  like  the  sun,  when 
it  exerts  its  influence,  keeps  all  the  different  trades  and 
occupations  of  men  revolving  in  their  harmonious  orbits 
without  confusion  or  clashing.  Where  it  shines  the 
flowers  of  family  love,  neighborly  kindness  and  love  for 
Christ  flourish.  When  the  church  tries  to  do  justice  or 
the  state  to  show  mercy,  they  do  harm,  and  only  harm, 
always  and  ever." 

"The  fact  that  Christ  is  called  'the  Sun  of  Righteous- 
ness' rather  spoils  your  comparison,"  said  Jack  Robinson. 

"Not  at  all,"  replied  Mr.  Jones.  "It  is  only  by 
Christ's  influence,  through  Christ's  book,  that  righteous- 
ness, justice,  can  reform  our  evils,  can  secure  work  and 
fair  wages  to  laborers,  can  stop  wicked  taxation.  He  is 
indeed  'the  Sun  of  Righteousness.'  Without  a  true  soci- 
ology we  cannot  see  the  beauty  of  Christ." 

"A  grand  thought,"  said  Col.  Brown.  "But  what 
about  trusts?  I  suppose  that  the  principle  that  we 
applied  to  natural  monopolies  can  be  applied  also  to  the 
artificial  monopolies  or  trusts." 

"We  will  be  compelled  to  modify  it,"  Mr.  Jones 
replied,  "as  follows: 

"Principle  27. — Trusts  are  a  violation  of  the  com- 
mand^ '  Thou  shall  not  steal. ' ' 

"Why  do  you  modify  it?"  Mrs.  Smith  asked. 

"Because  the  existence  of  natural  monopolies  is  bene- 
ficial, is  necessary,"  was  the  answer.  "Without  them 
we  would  live  a  savage  and  precarious  life.  Public  roads 
are  the  beginning  of  civilization.  Every  advance  in 
civilization,  every  invention,  every  discovery,  adds  to  the 


THE  TRUSTS.  20? 

number  of  natural  monopolies;  and  every  natural  mo- 
nopoly adds  to  our  wealth  and  culture.  But  the  trusts 
are  different.  They  are  artificial,  not  natural;  the  result, 
not  of  invention  or  discovery,  but  of  wicked  laws ;  a  sign, 
not  of  progress,  but  of  decay.  They  add  nothing  to  the 
general  wealth  or  intelligence.  As  their  existence,  like 
the  private  ownership  of  natural  monopolies,  is  a  viola- 
tion of  the  eighth  commandment,  it  should  be  termi- 
nated." 

"I  think  I  perceive  one  difference  between  trusts  and 
natural  monopolies,"  Mr.  Smith  remarked.  "The  cost 
of  the  services  rendered  by  the  trusts  can  usually  be 
estimated,  while  the  cost  of  the  services  rendered  by  the 
natural  monopolies  cannot  be  discovered.  Thus  the 
sugar  trust  knows  within  a  fraction  of  a  mill  how 
much  each  pound  of  sugar  costs  it,  but  the  railroad 
company  cannot  learn  what  it  costs  to  haul  a  ton  of 
freight,  or  the  water  company  what  it  costs  to  deliver  a 
thousand  gallons  of  water." 

"The  difference  is  not  universal,"  Jack  Robinson 
said.  "Gas  companies  know  accurately  how  much  it 
costs  to  make  gas;  and  they  are  natural  monopolies." 

"But  their  work  is  not  done  till  the  gas  is  delivered," 
replied  Mr.  Smith.  "Can  they  discover  what  it  costs 
them  to  deliver  any  thousand  feet  of  gas?" 

"The  difference,  whether  it  is  general  or  partial,  is 
immaterial  to  the  question  we  are  discussing,"  Col. 
Brown  said.  "The  prices  charged  by  trusts  are  not 
fixed  by  the  cost  of  production.  They  are  arbitrary.  If 
we  accept  the  interpretation  of  the  eighth  commandment 
which  Brother  Jones  read  us  from  the  Shorter  Cate- 
chism, they  break  the  commandment." 

"The  trusts  do  some  good.     I  remember  when  oil  was 


208  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

fifty  cents  a  gallon.  Now,"  said  Mrs.  Smith,  "it  is 
only  fifteen  cents  a  gallon." 

"Do  you  think  the  Standard  Oil  Company  reduced 
the  price?"  inquired  her  husband. 

"No,  I  suppose  not,"  was  her  halting  reply. 

"The  reduction  was  due  to  the  discovery  of  fresh  oil 
fields  and  to  improvements  in  transportation — pipe  lines 
which  are  natural  monopolies.  If  they  were  owned  by 
the  public  the  reduction  would  be  greater,  I  fancy." 
This  was  the  Colonel's  explanation. 

Keturning  to  her  defense  of  trusts,  Mrs.  Smith  said: 
"The  great  department  stores  are  trusts,  I  suppose. 
It  is  certainly  a  convenience  to  buy  everything  you 
want  under  one  roof,  and  the  prices  are  lower, 
too." 

"Good  or  bad,"  Col.  Brown  responded,  "they  are 
hardly  trusts;  for  trusts  are  artificial  monopolies. 
They  do  not  monopolize  the  selling  of  goods  or  try  to  do 
it.  Like  large  factories,  it  must  require  great  business 
skill  to  make  them  successful.  For  this  reason  I  doubt 
whether  they  will  be  permanent." 

"Some  say  that  trusts  are  a  necessary  result  of  our 
progress — of  invention,"  remarked  Mr.  Smith. 

"It  would  be  hard  to  maintain  that  position,"  replied 
Mr.  Robinson.  "The  railroad,  if  fairly  managed,  places 
the  factory  a  hundred  miles  away  from  the  city  on  an 
equality  with  that  within  a  mile  of  its  center.  Electric 
power  can  be  transmitted  instantly  to  a  factory  in  the 
heart  of  the  mountains.  The  natural  tendency  of  all 
the  inventions — of  telegraphs,  telephones,  railroads, 
electric  railways,  electric  power,  rapid  mails,  type- 
writers, business  methods — is  to  promote  the  establish- 
ment of  small  factories." 


THE  TRUSTS.  209 

"Why,  then,  is  production  concentrating?"  Miss 
Jenny  asked. 

"It  is  due  to  our  wicked  laws,"  Mr.  Jones  responded, 
"to  railroad  discrimination,  to  dishonest  currency,  to 
unjust  taxation,  to  protective  tariffs — in  a  word,  to 
national  wickedness,  in  which  we  are  all  partners." 

"To  come  back  to  our  point,"  said  Col.  Brown,  "we 
are  agreed  that  trusts  are  dishonest.  What  shall  we  do 
about  it?" 

"What  does  the  government  now  do  to  stop  stealing?" 
Mr.  Jones  asked. 

"It  uses  all  its  powers,"  Mr.  Robinson  answered,  "the 
constable,  the  sheriff,  the  posse  comitatus,  the  militia, 
the  national  troops.  If  necessary,  to  suppress  banditti, 
more  regiments  would  be  raised." 

"Would  it  be  necessary  to  use  such  measures  against 
the  trusts?"  Col.  Brown  asked. 

"It  would  not,"  was  Mr.  Jones'  reply.  "Remove  the 
causes,  and  the  trusts  will  soon  die.  Take  off  the  pro- 
tective tariff  from  refined  sugars,  and  the  sugar  trust 
will  die.  The  government  ownership  and  a  righteous 
management  of  the  railroads  would  kill  the  cattle  trust 
and  a  great  many  others.  The  public  ownership  of  the 
pipe  lines,  which  can  not  be  honestly  owned  by  any 
private  company,  would  kill  the  Standard  Oil  Company. 
The  sugar  refineries,  the  Chicago  and  Kansas  City 
slaughter-houses,  the  oil  refineries  and  the  other  factor- 
ies now  run  by  trusts  would  continue  business,  but  they 
would  do  it  in  an  honest  manner,  without  any  advantage 
over  others,  except  what  their  skill  and  capital  gave 
them. 

"Honest  money,"  continued  Mr.  Jones,  "would  be  a 
still  worse  blow  at  the  trust,  in  three  ways.  The  rising 


210  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

value  of  money  and  the  falling  prices  of  everything 
else  help  the  formation  of  trusts  very  greatly.  They 
discourage  the  establishment  of  new  factories.  Prudent 
men  will  hesitate  before  exchanging  the  money  which  is 
rising  in  value  for  machinery  which  is  falling  in  price. 
If  a  combination,  therefore,  can  secure  the  control  of  the 
factories  which  are  already  established,  it  is  reasonably 
sure  of  a  monopoly. 

"Panics  also  greatly  assist  the  formation  of  trusts.  In 
a  panic  those  having  the  cash  can  frequently  buy  up  the 
stock  or  plant  of  their  rivals  in  business  at  low  or  nom- 
inal figures.  With  honest  money  there  would  be  no 
panics,  or  at  least  they  would  be  confined  to  narrow 
limits.  As  soon  as  general  prices  began  to  fall  more 
money  would  be  issued,  and  enough  would  be  put  into 
circulation  to  stop  the  decline  in  general  prices ;  that  is, 
to  stop  the  panic. 

"In  a  third  way  honest  money  would  damage  the 
trusts.  To  keep  general  prices  stable  more  money  must 
be  put  into  circulation  when  they  are  falling.  The 
best  way  to  do  this  would  be  to  loan  it  directly  to  the 
people  on  good  security.  Prudence  would  dictate  that 
those  asking  the  smallest  loans  should  have  the  prefer- 
ence. Thus  honest  money  would  encourage  the  starting 
of  smaller  industries. 

"The  question,"  Mr.  Jones  said  in  conclusion,  "is 
simply  this :  Are  we  with  Christ  or  against  him?  There 
are  no  neutrals.  We  must  be  on  one  side  or  the  other. 
He  said  that  he  came  to  fulfill  the  law,  that  is,  the  eighth 
commandment.  The  existence  of  trusts  is  a  violation  of 
that  commandment.  If  we  are  not  doing  all  we  can,  by 
word,  by  act  and  by  our  money,  to  destroy  the  trusts, 
we  are  not  with  Christ.  If  we  claim  to  belong  to 


THE  TRUSTS.  211 

Christ  and  do  nothing,  we  are  hypocrites — conscious 
hypocrites,  if  we  know  the  truth.  We  can  not  shelter 
ourselves  from  the  wrath  of  God  against  hypocrisy  behind 
the  ministers  and  the  church.  By  the  diseases  of  our 
civilization,  which  have  come  to  a  head,  God  is  calling 
upon  us  to  repent." 

The  company  broke  up  quietly. 

Mr.  Robinson  saw  Miss  Smith  home.  He  was  a  fre- 
quent visitor  at  the  Smith  residence. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

THE    LIQUOR   TRAFFIC. 

ONE  result  of  the  conferences  between  John  Robinson, 
Esq. ,  and  Miss  Jenny  Smith  was  the  publication  of  the 
following  notice  in  the  Christian  Observer  of  June  29, 
1898: 

ROBINSON-SMITH.  —  At  the  residence  of  Mr.  John 
Smith,  in  Browntown,  Tenn.,  on  June  23,  by  the  Rev. 
Jacob  Jones,  assisted  by  the  Rev.  Luther  Calvin  Wes- 
ley, D.D.,  John  Robinson,  Esq.,  and  Miss  Jane 
Smith. 

Everything  added  to  the  pleasure  of  the  wadding. 
The  night  was  lovely.  The  ceremony  was  brief,  impres- 
sive and  scriptural,  Mr.  Jones  requiring  the  bride  to 
promise  subjection  to  her  husband.  The  bride  looked 
sweet,  and  the  groom  affable.  The  supper  was  delicious. 

While  waiting  for  their  wives  Gen.  Sylvester,  Col. 
Brown  and  Mr.  Jones  took  chairs  under  the  trees  in  the 
yard,  and  the  General  remarked:  ''Prohibition  will  have 
another  voter  and  worker." 

"He  will  be  a  good  one,  too,"  said  Col.  Brown. 

"I  can  not  help  wondering  why  the  Prohibitionists 
insist  on  dragging  a  moral  question  into  politics,"  was 
the  General's  next  remark. 

"Brother  Jones,"  replied  Col.  Brown,  "can  enlighten 

you." 

Thus  appealed  to,  Mr.  Jones  said:     "Last  fall  I  held 
212 


THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC.  213 

twelve  conversations  with  various  persons  concerning  the 
true  science  of  government.  In  these  conversations 
twenty -seven  principles  were  asserted  and  defended.  I 
will  add  one  more  to  the  number : 

" Principle  28. — The  licensing  of  the  liquor  traffic  by 
the  government  is  forbidden  by  every  sound  principle  of 
sociology." 

"If  you  can  show  that,  Gen.  Sylvester  will  no  longer 
wonder  that  prohibition  is  in  politics,"  said  Col.  Brown. 

"The  first  principle,"  Mr.  Jones  began,  "is  that 
'there  is  a  higher  .law  to  which  all  human  laws  should 
conform.'  " 

"That  will  apply,"  Gen.  Sylvester  objected,  "only  if 
drinking  is  per  se  sinful." 

"We  are  talking  about  the  liquor  traffic  as  it  exists," 
replied  the  minister.  "As  the  church  dedicates  build- 
ings for  religion,  so  the  state  sets  apart  buildings  by  its 
license  laws  for  the  sale  of  liquor.  As  the  church 
licenses  men  to  preach,  so  the  state  licenses  men  to  sell 
liquor.  As  the  ministers  are  expected  to  give  them- 
selves wholly  to  the  ministry,  so  the  license  laws  fre- 
quently forbid  the  liquor -sellers  to  carry  on  any  other 
business  in  their  saloons.  As  ministers  live  by  the 
Gospel,  so  liquor-sellers  live  by  their  trade.  Their 
wealth,  the  comforts  of  their  family  depend  upon  their 
success  in  persuading  men  to  buy  intoxicants.  " 

"Such  temples  of  drunkenness,  and  of  all  the  vices 
that  flow  from  it,  are  forbidden  by  the  higher  law,"  Col. 
Brown  remarked. 

"Proceed,"  said  Gen.  Sylvester. 

"The  second  principle  is:  'The  Bible  is  the  surest 
and  plainest  means  of  learning  the  higher  law  of 


214  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

nations.'  In  the  opinion  of  the  church,  the  most  dili- 
gent student  of  the  Bible,  it  forbids  the  liquor  traffic. 

"The  third  principle  is:  'One  part  of  the  mission  of 
Christ  is  to  propagate  throughout  the  world  the  political 
principles  of  the  Old  Testament.'  No  one  can  be 
enrolled  among  the  disciples  of  Christ  who  is  engaged  in 
the  liquor  traffic. 

"If  the  fourth  principle:  Righteousness,  conformity 
to  the  higher  law,  exalteth  a  nation,'  is  true,  this  in- 
iquity, the  legalizing  of  temples  to  drinking  and  vice, 
must  degrade  a  nation. 

"Skipping  the  fifth  principle,  which  asserts  that  'the 
first  duty  of  all  Christians  is  to  study  the  Bible  politi- 
cally,' the  sixth  of  the  principles  discussed  last  fall 
affirms :  'Whoever  consciously  and  intentionally  rejects  or 
neglects  the  political  teachings  of  the  Bible  is  guilty  of 
a  great  sin,  of  which  he  should  at  once  repent.'  " 

"I  have  you  there,  Parson,"  exclaimed  Gen.  Sylvester. 
"The  vast  majority  of  Christians  vote  with  parties  that 
favor  the  license  of  the  liquor  traffic.  In  other  words, 
they  vote  for  license.  Actions  speak  louder  than  words. 
It  is  evident  that  they  do  not  agree  with  your  interpre- 
tation of  the  'higher  law  of  nations'  and  of  the  Bible. 
We  know  from  their  ballots  that  they  approve  of  license 
laws." 

"I  do  not  defend  them,"  was  the  reply.  "I  pray 
daily  that  God  may  enlighten  and  convert  them.  And 
yet  several  things  must  be  remembered.  No  one  can 
vote  against  the  licensing  of  the  liquor  traffic  without  also 
voting  for  woman  suffrage  and  the  pension  frauds  and 
robbery.  In  fact  our  voting  means  very  little  now. 
Probably  a  large  majority  of  those  who  voted  for 
McKinley  in  1896  were  opposed  either  to  the  McKinley 


THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC.  215 

tariff  or  to  the  single  gold  standard  or  to  the  McKinley 
Cuban  policy  or  to  the  pension  steals.  You  would  not 
say  that  all  the  Republicans  and  Democrats  favor  the 
pension  robberies  which  both  parties  permit  and  encour- 
age ;  for  it  would  not  be  true.  At  present  we  can  not 
learn  a  man's  opinion  from  his  ballot.  Voting  means 
as  little  as  it  accomplishes.  We  have  not  now  a  repub- 
lican form  of  government." 

"Our  political  methods  need  to  be  reformed,"  Gen. 
Sylvester  admitted. 

"The  seventh  principle  is :  'The  sole  and  only  duty  and 
end  of  civil  government  is  to  do  justice,'  "  resumed  Mr. 
Jones.  "If  the  powers  of  government  are  limited  to 
doing  justice,  plainly  it  has  no  right  to  grant  to  some 
the  exclusive  privilege  of  selling  liquor." 

"The  conclusion  follows  from  the  premise,"  said  Col. 
Brown. 

"The  eighth  principle,"  Mr.  Jones  continued, 
"affirms  that  'governments  derive  their  authority  from 
God.'  It  is  absurd,  profane,  to  imagine  that  God  gives 
them  any  authority  to  establish  temples  of  vice,  for  such 
our  modern  saloons  are." 

"The  point  is  well  taken,"  said  Gen.  Sylvester. 

"The  ninth  principle  is:  'The  people  are  the  judges 
appointed  by  God  to  determine  what  is  right  and  what 
is  wrong  in  political  affairs.'  Our  people  have  judged 
the  saloon  and  have  decided  that  it  is  wrong.  The  pre- 
ponderance of  sentiment  against  it  is  very  great.  It  has 
no  defenders.  There  is  practically  no  difference  of 
opinion  about  its  evils." 

"You  think  that  the  ballots  of  the  people  show  their 
sentiments?"  Col.  Brown  asked. 

"If  I  did  I  should  think  ours  a  nation  of  pickpockets 


216  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

and  bribers;  for  no  party  has  taken  a  bold  stand  against 
the  pension  robberies,  and  most  of  them  practice  cor- 
ruption. I  judge  from  other  things,  from  sermons, 
from  church  resolutions,  from  church  discipline,  from 
the  papers,  from  the  practice  of  railroads  and  other 
large  employers,  from  prohibitory  laws  in  states,  coun- 
ties and  townships,  that  three-fourths  of  our  people  are 
opposed  to  saloons.  When  the  people  rule  the  saloon 
will  go." 

"The  saloons  corrupt  our  politics  more  than " 

Gen.  Sylvester  began. 

"It  is  not  accidental,"  Col.  Brown  interrupted. 
"Their  very  existence  depends  upon  the  corruption  of 
our  politics.  If  the  people  ruled  the  saloons  would  die. " 

"The  licensing  of  saloons  is  inconsistent  with  a 
righteous  system  of  taxation,"  resumed  Mr.  Jones.  It 
violates  the  principle  that  'the  Bible  commands  all  to 
pay  taxes.'  It  collects  the  revenue  from  the  drinker's 
wife  and  children,  for  they  are  the  ones  who  really  pay 
the  license  fees,  and  they  are  least  able  to  bear  an  extra 
burden.  'Government  should  collect  no  more  taxes 
from  the  people  than  are  needed  for  its  modest  support.' 
The  amount  of  the  revenue  from  liquor  taxes  is  not 
fixed  by  the  needs  of  government,  but  by  the  consump- 
tion of  liquor  and  the  number  of  licenses  taken  out. 
'Unjust  taxes  are  an  abomination  to  the  Lord,'  and 
liquor  taxes  are  unjust.  They  are  taxes  on  poverty,  on 
rags,  on  lack  of  bread,  and  not  on  abundance.  If  civil 
magistrates  are  God's  ministers,  their  treasury  is  the 
Lord's ;  and  it  is  a  shame  to  put  into  it  the  money  which 
is  extorted  from  the  families  of  drunkards." 

"Surely  you  would  not  have  liquor  untaxed?"  asked 
Gen.  Sylvester, 


THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

"Why  not?"  was  the  Yankee  reply. 

"I  don't  know,"  said  Gen.  Sylvester. 

''Taking  all  taxes  from  the  manufacture  and  sale  of 
liquor  would  have  two  good  effects,"  Mr.  Jones  said. 
"It  would  no  longer  be  an  article  of  luxury.  Whisky 
could  be  sold  at  twenty-five  cents  a  gallon.  Treating 
would  cease.  No  one  would  invite  another  to  take  a 
drink  worth  less  than  a  cent  any  more  than  he  would 
'treat'  a  friend  to  a  piece  of  corn-bread  or  a  cup  of 
water.  And  this  habit  of  treating,  of  social  drinking,  is 
the  worst  foe  to  temperance. 

*  "The  repeal  of  liquor  taxes  would  close  all  the 
saloons.  There  would  no  longer  be  larger  profits  in 
selling  beer  than  corn-meal,  or  whisky  than  molasses. 
Free  competition  would  starve  the  saloon  out  of  the 
business.  But  general  merchants  would  not  keep  bar- 
rooms, for  it  would  drive  away  other  custom.  They 
would  make  no  more  effort  to  sell  liquor  than  molasses 
when  the  profits  on  both  were  equal." 

"The  change  might  not  work  that  way,"  said  Col. 
Brown. 

"Right  is  right,"  replied  Mr.  Jones.  "It  is  always 
safe  to  do  right.  If  the  liquor  taxes  are  unjust  they 
should  be  repealed  even  though  the  heavens  fall." 

"The  people  would  not  approve  of  free  liquor,"  Gen. 
Sylvester  objected. 

"Another  argument  for  the  total  prohibition  of  the 
traffic,"  returned  Mr.  Jones.  "In  regard  to  our  other 
problems,  free  trade,  currency,  the  demonetization  of 
silver,  usury,  the  private  ownership  of  natural  monopo- 
lies, the  traffic  exerts  an  evil  influence  in  two  ways.  The 
use  of  liquor  dulls  the  conscience  of  a  great  number  of 
voters  so  that  they  can  not  see  what  justice,  righteous- 


218  UNCLE  SAM'S  BIBLE. 

ness,  God's  law,  requires  in  these  matters.  It  also  intro- 
duces a  disturbing  influence  into  every  political  campaign, 
so  that  it  is  harder  to  obtain  an  expression  of  the  real 
sentiments  of  the  people  about  them." 

"Very  true,"  murmured  the  ex-Congressman. 

"  'Civil  government,  as  the  agent  of  the  Supreme 
Landlord,  must  make  such  laws  as  will  promote  the 
right  use  of  land. '  This  principle  condemns  the  use  of 
land  as  sites  for  saloons.  Prohibition  will  help  to  settle 
the  land  question. 

"It  will  also  aid  in  settling  the  labor  question.  'The 
labor  question  is  a  religious  one,'  because  laborers  are 
God's  children.  It  is  surely  wrong  for  government  to 
encourage,  by  peculiar  privileges,  by  creating  artificial 
monopolies,  the  use  of  that  which  destroys  the  ability  to 
work.  The  traffic  decreases  the  demand  for  work.  A 
dollar  spent  in  a  saloon  does  not  employ  as  much  labor 
as  if  spent  in  any  other  store.  'None  should  live  with- 
out work.'  The  license  of  the  traffic  enables  thousands 
to  live  on  the  vices  of  their  fellow-citizens.  'Govern- 
ment should  not  diminish  the  wages  of  labor.'  One 
thirsting  for  a  dram  will  work  at  any  price  to  obtain  it ; 
and  thus  the  thirst,  created  by  the  fostering  care  of  the 
law,  reduces  the  price  of  the  coarser  kinds  of  work. 
'Women  should  follow  womanly  callings.'  Drinking 
leads  to  prostitution.  Aside  from  this,  the  robbery  of 
the  wives  of  drunkards  by  government  through  liquor 
taxes  forces  many  of  them  to  work  away  from  their 
homes,  where  the  children  especially  and  peculiarly  need 
their  care.  'The  fourth  commandment  is  chiefly  an 
industrial  or  labor  law.'  It  aims  first  at  stopping  all 
worldly  work  on  the  Sabbath  so  that  all  may  rest.  The 
saloon  is  the  Sabbath's  foe.  It  is  not  accidentally  so, 


THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC.  219 

but  necessarily  so.  Its  customers  who  go  into  it  three 
times  every  day  for  a  glass  of  beer  will  almost  force 
their  way  into  it  on  Sunday.  Other  merchants  can  sell 
as  much  in  six  days  as  in  seven ;  the  saloon-keeper  can 
sell  more  in  seven;  and  the  leisure  day  is  his  best  day 
for  trade  Thus  the  saloons  must  always  tend  to 
encourage  the  crime  of  Sabbath-breaking  and  to  deprive 
the  laborers  of  rest. 

"Another  principle  reads:  'The  existence  of  trusts  is 
a  violation  of  the  eighth  commandment.'  The  license 
laws  create  an  artificial  monopoly  and  are  therefore  for- 
bidden by  the  commandment,  'Thou  shalt  not  steal.' 
Thus  seven  men  in  Browntown  have  the  exclusive  legal 
privilege  of  selling  liquor  in  this  county.  They  would 
much  rather  have  the  exclusive  right  to  sell  groceries 
or  dry  goods,  for  they  could  make  more  money  out  of 
it.  It  is  no  more  honest  to  give  them  one  than  the 
other." 

"I  understand  the  position  of  the  Prohibitionists 
better  than  I  did,"  said  Gen.  Sylvester. 

''But  I  have  not  spoken  of  the  usual  arguments 
against  the  saloons — the  increase  of  crime,  of  poverty 
and  of  insanity,  and  the  destruction  of  manhood,  and 
the  great  waste  of  the  traffic — twelve  hundred  millions 
of  dollars  every  year." 

Mrs.  Sylvester  and  Mrs.  Jones,  who  had  been  chat- 
ting, now  claimed  their  husbands,  and  they  took  their 
departure  after  again  wishing  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kobinson  all 
happiness. 

THE   END. 


INDEXES, 
fe, 

I.— A  LIST    OF   THE    PRINCIPLES    AFFIRMED 
IN  THIS  VOLUME. 

CHAPTER 

1. — There  is  a  higher  law  to  which  all  human  laws 
should  conform.  It  is  the  law  of  God II 

2.  — The  Bible  is  the  surest  and  plainest  means  of  learn- 
ing the  higher  law  of  nations Ill 

3. — One  part  of  the  mission  of  Christ  is  to  propagate 
throughout  the  world  the  political  principles  of  the 
Old  Testament IV 

4. — Righteousness,  conformity  to  the  higher  law,  exalt- 
eth  a  nation V 

5.  — The  first  duty  of  all  Christians  is  to  study  the  Bible 
politically,  in  a  reverent  spirit,  and  in  a  thorough 
manner VI 

6. — Whoever  consciously  and  intentionally  rejects  or 
neglects  the  political  teachings  of  the  Bible  is  guilty 
of  a  great  sin,  of  which  he  should  at  once  repent  .  .  VII 

7. — The  sole  and  only  duty  and  end  of  civil  government 
is  to  do  justice,  to  secure  to  each  and  all  the  rights 
given  to  them  by  God VIII,  IX,  X 

8. — Governments  derive  their  authority,  and  voters  and 
officers  their  right  to  influence  and  control  political 
action,  from  God XI 

9. — The  people  are  the  judges  appointed  by  God  to 
decide  what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong  in  political 
affairs XII,  XIII 

10. — The  Bible  commands  all  to  pay  taxes,  to  assist  in 
defraying  the  necessary  expenses  of  civil  government  XIV 

11. — National  debts  are  forbidden  by  God XIV 

221 


$22  INDEXES. 

CHAPTER. 

12. — Government  should  collect  no  more  taxes  from  the 

people  than  are  needed  for  its  modest  support  .  .  .  XV 
13. — Unjust  taxes  are  an  abomination  to  the  Lord  .  .  XV 
14. — Import  duties  are  forbidden,  and  free  trade  between 

nations  is  commanded  by  God  XVI 

15.— Every  government  should  provide  honest  money 

for  its  own  people XVII 

16. — The  demonetization  of  silver  was  a  great  sin  against 

God XVIII 

17. — Interest,  or  usury,  is  stealing.  The  government 

should  discourage  it XIX,  XX 

18. — Civil  government,  as  the  agent  of  the  Supreme 

Landlord,  must  adopt  such  laws  as  will  promote  the 

division  of  land  among  those  who  will  make  the  best 

use  of  it  XXI 

19. — The  labor  question  is  a  religious  one XXII 

20.  — Every  man  has  a  right  to  work XXII 

21. — None  should  live  without  work .  XXII 

22. — Government  should  not  diminish  the  wages  of 

labor  XXII 

23. — Men  should  follow  manly,  and  women  womanly 

callings  XXII 

24.— Manual  labor  is  Christ-like XXII 

25. — The  fourth  commandment  is  chiefly  an  industrial 

or  labor  law XXII 

26. — The  private  ownership  of  natural  monopolies  is  a 

violation  of  the  command,  "Thou  shalt  not  steal." 

XXIII,  XXIV 

27. — Trusts  are  a  violation  of  the  command,  "Thou 

shalt  not  steal." XXV 

28. — The  licensing  of  the  liquor  traffic  by  the  government 

is  forbidden  by  every  sound  principle  of  sociology  .    XXV 


II.— ANALYTICAL  INDEX. 
THEME. 

CHAPTER. 

"Righteousness  Exalteth  a  Nation."    Prov.  14:  34      I,  XXVI 

INTRODUCTORY. 

The  Need  of  Righteousness       I 

Righteousness  is  Conformity  to  God's  Law II 

The  Bible  is  the  Best  Means  of  Learning  God's  Law       .  Ill 

Christ  is  the  Teacher  of  God's  Law       IV 

Expediency  Cannot  Teach  God's  Law       ......  V 

It  is  our  Duty  to  Study  God's  Law VI 

Willful  Neglect  of  this  Duty  is  Sinful       ......  VII 

GENERAL  PRINCIPLES. 

The  Sole  Duty  of  Civil  Government  is  to  do  Justice  to 

All  VIII,  IX,  X 

The  Powers  of  Civil  Government  are  from  God  .  .  .  XI 
The  People  are  the  God-appointed  Judges  to  Decide 

what  is  Righteous XII 

Women,  as  a  Part  of  the  People,  Have  a  Share  in 

Judging  XIII 

The  Labor  Question  is  Religious  XXII 

All  Have  a  Right  to  Work  XXI 

None  Should  Live  without  Work XXII 

Men  Should  Follow  Manly,  and  Women  Womanly 

Callings  XXII 

Manual  Labor  is  Christ-like XXII 

REFORMS  REQUIRED  BY  RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

Equal    Taxation   to    Pay  All    the  Expenses  of    Civil 

Government XIV 

The  Repeal  of  Unnecessary  Taxes XV 

The  Repeal  of  Indirect  Taxes       XV 

Free  Trade XVI 

223 


224  INDEXES. 

CHAPTER. 

Honest  Money XVII 

Remonetization  of  Silver    .     .     . XVIII 

The  Abolition  of  Interest     .........     XIX,  XX 

The  Single  Tax XXI 

The  Enforcement  of  Sunday  Laws XXII 

The  Public  Ownership  of  Natural  Monopolies     XXIII,  XXIV 

The  Destruction  of  Trusts XXV 

The  Abolition  of  the  Liquor  Traffic XXVI 


III.     TOPICAL  INDEX. 


Abolitionism,  22. 
Anarchy,  71. 

Assessing  taxes,  108  et  seq. 
Australian  ballot,  98. 
Bellamy,  Edward,  quoted,  63 

65,  67,  68. 
Bible  analyzed,  29. 

and  higher  law,  28. 

in  common  schools,  53. 

political  study  of,  47  et  seq. 
53  et  seq. 

proof  of  inspiration  of,  47 
Billingsgate,   political,   46. 
Bimetallism,  145. 
Blackstone's     Commentaries 

quoted,  24,  28. 
Blood  revenge,  164. 
Christ  and  reform,  19,  40. 

hates  heavy  taxes,  117. 

hates  unjust  taxes,  119. 
Christ's  example,  187. 

mission,  35. 

reign  on  earth,  79. 
Christian  Endeavor,  45. 
Church,  its  duty  to  the  poor 
66. 

heartless,  163,  186-7. 

judgment  of,  53  et  seq. 

members    in    politics,     45 
131,  132. 

property   should   be  taxed 
112. 


Church,  unity  of,  49. 
Cities,   growth  of,   202. 
Civilization  destroyed,  154. 
Competition     and    socialism, 

73. 

Competition,  railroad,  202. 
Communism,  71,  184. 
Confederate      money,      140-1, 

166-7. 
Consistency,  Christian,  power 

of,  169,  181. 
Constitution,  U.    S.,    quoted, 

65. 

misuse  of,  96. 
Contested  elections,  99. 
Continental    currency,    140-1, 

166,  181. 
Co-operation    and    socialism, 

74. 

Corrupt  practices  act,  99. 
Corruption,   remedy  for,    88, 

112-3. 

Currency,  132  et  seq.,  151. 
Dabney,  Rev.  Dr.  R.  L.,  quot- 
ed, 190. 

Debts  cannot  be  paid,  155. 
Decalogue,  analyzed,  190-1. 
Demonetization  of  silver,  144 

et  seq. 

Department  stores,  208. 
Discipleship,  test  of,  53,  131-2, 

179,  210. 
225 


226 


TOPICAL  INDEX. 


Discrimination,  railroad,  200, 
201. 

Divorce,  164. 

Eighth  Commandment,  153  et 
seq.,  195  et  seq.,  199  et 
seq.,  206  et  seq. 

Ethics,  data  of,  46. 

Expediency  and  righteous- 
ness, 42  et  seq. 

Faith,  doctrine  of,  57. 

"Fiat"  money,  136. 

Foreign  missions  vs.  protec- 
tion, 127. 

Fourth  Commandment,  188. 

Free  coinage,  142  et  seq. 

Free  trade,  125  et  seq. 

Golden  rule,  205. 

Government  and  God,  84  et 
seq. 

Government,  its  only  duty, 
26,  63  et  seq.,  77  et  seq. 

Grants  of  land,  172. 

Heaven,  62,  71. 

Higher  law,  the,  22  et  seq.,  28 
et  seq. 

Holy  Spirit's  power,  144. 

Honor.     See  National  Honor. 

Hypocrisy,  157,  181,  210-1. 

Imperative  mandate,   99. 

Import  duties,  125  et  seq. 

Independence,  Declaration  of, 
quoted,  65-6,  90. 

Indianapolis  street  cars,  196. 

Indirect  taxes,  118  et  seq.,  129, 
178. 

Initiative,  99. 

Interest,  151  et  seq.,  159  et 
seq.,  183. 

Justice,  only  duty  of  govern- 


ment, 26,  63  et  seq.,  77  et 
seq. 

Justice,  the  sole  solution  of, 
political  problems,  71, 
205-6. 

Just  taxes,  122-3,  183. 
Labor  question,  182  et  seq. 
Larrabee,    Hon.    Wm.,    202. 
Land,  123,  170  et  seq.,  182-3. 
Legal  tender,  139. 
Liberty,  defined,   67,  173. 
Limitation     of    land-owning, 

176. 

Liquor  traflic,  212  et  seq. 
Living  without  work,  183-4. 
Loans,   government,  165. 
Lynch  law,  98. 
Manual  labor,  187. 
Millennium,  71. 
Ministers  destroying  the  Sab- 
bath, 189-190. 

trifling  with  Scripture,  187. 
vices  of,  see  Wesley,  Rev. 

Dr.     . 

virtues  of,  86,  88. 
Money,   132,   etc. 
and  trusts,  209-10. 
defined,   133,   151. 
Monogamy,  98,  146. 
Monopolies.        See      Natural 

Monopolies   and  Trusts. 
Moses,  93. 

Municipal  corruption,  194. 
Nationalism,  Bellamy's,  69. 
National   debts,   113  et   seq., 

165. 

honor,  44,  143. 
sins,  148. 
Natural     monopolies,     183-4, 


TOPICAL  INDEX 


$27 


192  et  seq.,  199  et  seq. 
beneficial,  206. 
and  socialism,  72. 
monopolies  and  trusts,  209. 
Panics,  210. 
Personal   taxes,   108   et   seq., 

122,  178. 

Pharisees,  separatists,  39. 
Political  parties,  expenses  of, 

112. 
Politicians,  why  corrupt,  86, 

88,  113. 

Polygamy,  162. 
Postal  savings  banks,  167. 
Preaching  politics,  59,  205. 
Precepts,  moral  and  positive, 

26. 
Prices,    general    and    special, 

134  et  seq.,  140. 
Principles.    See  Index  I. 
Principles  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8, 

9,   10,    12,   13,   18,   19,   20, 

21,  22,  23,  24,  27,  applied 

to  the  liquor  traffic,  212 

et  seq. 
Prohibition,  212  et  seq. 

party,  43. 
Protection,  125  et  seq. 

and   foreign   missions,   127. 
and  trusts,  209. 
Proportional    representation, 

99. 

Railroads,  199  et  seq. 
Referendum,  99. 
Religion  and  reform/  20. 
Rent,  183. 

Repudiation,  114,  204. 
Sabbath,    188    et    seq.,     200, 

218-9. 


Saloons,  liquor,  213,  217,  219. 
Saturday  half  holiday,  190. 
Shifting  taxes,  119. 
Shorter     Catechism,     quoted, 

195-6,  201,  207. 
Silver  question,  142  et  seq. 
Single  Tax,   the*,  124,  176  et 

seq. 

Social  contract  theory,  85. 
Socialism,  69  et  seq.,  195. 
Spirituality   of    the    church, 

187. 

of  the  Gospel,  37-8. 
Standard  Oil  Company,  208. 
Stickuey,  A.  B.,  on  the  rail- 
road question,  201-2. 
Sunday  laws,  189-190. 
Tariff  and  righteousness,  42. 

and  railroad  rates,  201. 
Taxes,  108  et  seq.,  116  et  seq., 

125  et  seq. 

and  money,  132  et  seq. 
Temperance  sentiment,  215. 
Tenement  houses,  202. 
Theft,     Christ's     punishment 

for,  57. 
Treating,  217. 
Trusts,  184, 192,  206,  etc. 

and    socialism,    72. 
"Use  and   occupancy,"  176-7. 
Usury,  151  et  seq.,  159  et  seq., 

183. 

Utility  and  value,  133. 
Value  defined,  133. 
Voting,  92  et  seq.,  101  et  seq., 

214-6. 

W.  C.  T.  U.,  45. 
Wages,  184-5. 
War  discouraged,  114,  128. 


TOPICAL  INDEX. 


Wesley,  Rev.  Dr.  Luther  Cal- 
vin; a  common  type  of 
the  successful  minister. 
Is  a  hypocrite,  53  et  seq., 
157,  181.  His  hypocrisy 
defended,  149,  160,  169. 


Tells  fibs,  61.  Threatens 
heresy  trial,  59.  Out  of 
pulpit,  83. 

"Wild  cat"  bank  notes,  166. 

Woman  suffrage,  99,  101,  etc. 

Work,  right  to,  182. 


IV.    TEXTUAL  INDEX. 

A  LIST  OF  TEXTS  QUOTED,  REFERRED  TO  OR  ILLUS- 
TRATED. 

Genesis,  171. 

Exodus,  Ch.  2:14,  93;   3:10,  91;  3:16,  93;   4:29,  93;  20:8-11, 

188  et  seq.;  20:15,  153  et  seq.,  195  et  seq.,  199  et  seq.,  206 

et  seq.;  21:13,  164;  22:1-4,  57;  22:25,  159. 
Leviticus,  Ch.  19:15,  77;  19:34,  205;  19:35-37,  139;  22:8,  161; 

25:35-38,  160. 

Numbers,  Ch.  15:32-36,  188;  35:9-29, 164. 
Deuteronomy,   Ch.   1:13,   97;    4:41-43,   164;    5:12-15,   188   et 

seq.;  5:19,  152  et  seq.,  195  et  seq.,  199  et  seq.,  206  et  seq.; 

14:21,  161;   16:18-20,  78;  19:1-3,  164;    22:5,  185;  23:19-20, 

160;  24:1-4,  164. 

Joshua,  171.    Ch.  9:3-27,  115;  20:1-9,  164. 
Judges,  26,  171.    Ch.  11:4-11,  94,  97. 

I.  Samuel,  Ch.  3:19-20,  91;  8:7,  89;  8:22,  94  et  seq.,  101  et 
seq.,  145;  10:1,  91;  10:17-24,  91;  10:26,  97. 

II.  Samuel,  Ch.  2:4,  97;  5:3,  97;  21:1-9, 115;  23:3,  78. 
I.  Kings,  171.    Ch.  11:31,  91;    12:20,  97. 
Nehemiah,  Ch.  5:1-13,  163. 

Psalms,  Psm.  15:5,  162;  41:1,  107;  72:2,  80;  82:3,  78. 

Proverbs,  Ch.  11:1,  139;  16:11-12,  139. 

Isaiah,  Ch.  1:16-17,  78;  3:14-15,  116;  5:1-7,  58;  11:2,  80. 

Jeremiah,  Ch.  22:3-4,  79;  23:5,  80. 

Ezekiel,  Ch.  18:8,  18:13,  18:17,  163;  22:12,  163. 

Amos,  Ch.  8:4-8,  138. 

Malachi,  Ch.  4:2,  206. 

Matthew,  Ch.  4:17,  38;    4:23,  38;    5:17-20,  39;    5:31-2,  164; 

7:12,  205;  10:37,  131;  17:24-27,  112;  19:3-9,  164;  19:16,  36; 

21:33-41,  58;  22:21,  41,  97, 112;  22:39,  205;  23:23,  36;  25:27, 

161. 


230  TEXTUAL  INDEX. 

Mark,  Ch.  1:14,  38;    10:2-12,  164;    10:17,  36;    12:1-9,  58; 

12:17,  41,  97,  112;    12:31,  205. 
Luke,  Ch.  2:14,  114,  128;   2:51,  187;   3:9,  203;   4:16-21,  38; 

12:14,  41,  97;  18:18,  36;  19:23,  161;    20:9-16,  58;  20:25,  41, 

97,  112. 

John,  Ch.  3:2,  36;  13:3-17,  187;  18:36,  41;  19:11,  91. 
Acts,  Ch.  17:26,  126. 
Romans,  Ch.  1:17,  36;  3:4,  131;  13:1-7,  91;  13:6-7,  112. 

I.  Corinthians,  Ch.  9:1-12,  112. 

II.  Thessalonians,  Ch.  3:10,  183. 

I.  Timothy,  Chapters  1:19—2:4,  51;  2:12,  103. 
Hebrews,  Ch.  6:16,  109. 
Revelation,  Ch.  22:18-19,  57. 


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